An Institutional Dynasty

"A dynasty viewed as an institution."

- R.J.W. Evans

The day began with an interactive lecture - we headed out on a walking tour of the Spanish Riding School, the National Bibliothek, the Hofburg, and part of the Roman ruins, all near the Josefplatz . We were able to not only have an introduction to the Roman beginnings of Vienna, but we built up the context in which we will study the Habsburg's entrance into Viennese politics after the extinction of the Babenburg line in 1246 AD. The Babenburgs were an aristocratic family from northern Bavaria, appointed by Holy Roman Emperor Otto I to ensure stabilization in Vienna after the defeat of the Magyars (Hungarians) in 955 at Lechfeld.

Both with the centralization of

power in Vienna under one family, and with the establishment of monasteries, relative stabilization ensued. It was only in 1246 with the extinction of the Babenburgs that the Habsburgs transformed stabilization into absolutism.

After our lecture, we found the Hotel Sacher, which serves the most amazing afternoon tea and sacher tortes - participating in the kaffeehaus culture is an event in and of itself.

The afternoon was filled with beauty and wisdom - Dr. O. led us on a bus tour through the city of Vienna, circling the Ringstrasse and continuing up into the Viennese woods. Our first sight was the Succession building, topped with a beautiful floral gold circle; it was build so artists - such as Gustav Klimt - who had resigned from the Association of Austrian Artists could still hold art exhibits. Behind it was St. Charles' Church, built with an attitude of thanksgiving that the plague had finished its course.

The Belvedere was our next stop; aptly named by a visiting Maria Theresia who exclaimed "Quelle Belvedere" upon seeing the fountain and palace for the first time. The upper Belvedere was at one point Prince Eugene of Savoy's guest house; after the guest house came the baroque gardens and orangery, and then the lower Belvedere was his humble personal summer house. The palace took only a mere two years to build - quite a feat for such grandeur, and serving as a mark of the power held by Prince Eugene. Prince Eugene was an avid collector, thus making the Belvedere a grand palace, complete with a library, zoo, etc.

Prince Eugene of Savoy was most popular for finally defeating the Turks in 1683; ironically, the Turkish embassy now faces the Belvedere from a street lining the Belvedere gardens. The sphinx in the garden seem to unite the famous war hero with the beauty of his summer palace - the bold, powerful lion united with the soft elegance of the female.

In front of the Belvedere stands a large statue and fountain depicting a Russian soldier. It was built as part of a concession made on the 15th of May, 1955 during the signing of the State Treaty at the Belvedere - Austria was to be a free, neutral nation, the Russians were to withdraw, and the statue was to be built. After the USSR split up, there was no need to keep the statue - however, as is the Viennese style to reject modernity and change, the statue was preserved.

During the last part of the tour we headed into the Viennese woods, towards Kahlenberg and through the town of Beethoven and the wine gardens. The Viennese live so differently than suburban Americans do - most Viennese live in apartments and see no green (even though Vienna has many many trees). They go to the Wiener Prater or the woods to enjoy the gardens which they do not have the luxury of owning.

The most interesting thing that Dr. O. shared that continued to come up was the time scope of the major buildings and churches around Vienna. Most are considered "Neo," whether that be neo-gothic, neo-renaissance, etc. As an american, these places are older than my own country. But to the Viennese, these buildings stand far apart from the Roman ruins and the Greek islands. Even more so, the apartments built after the 18th century are almost despised; this distinction between history, neo-history, and modernity is extremely apparent to the Viennese.

Throughout the day, it became clear that the city of Vienna, the grandeur and lushness we feel today, was and still is a direct product of the Habsburgs. However, even with the Babenburgs, and then continuing with the Habsburgs, Vienna seems to be the product of performance. A performance of authority, power, centralization, and civility. Austria is "a rich concentration of peoples and cultures," peoples and cultures created and ruled by actors on a stage of power (Beller, 15). As Spielman focuses on the judicial system of Vienna as a place where the citizens are equal yet the court is the direct product of the emperor (City and Crown, chap. 3), so too is Vienna a linear product of its own rulers; it was a dynasty viewed by the ruling family as an institution in which to showcase it power, but a dynasty viewed by the people as absolutist and stifling.