Last Day

Today was our last day! I feel like we have both done everything and done nothing. Things start to run together when they are all packed within the course of a simple month, churches begin to look the same, and each melange tastes like the last. Yet, I feel as if I could spend a year here - the beauty, majesty, and history of this place has not begun to permeate me. I know I have lived here for a month, but I feel as if I just landed from London. A month is not succinct time to fully absorb and appreciate this beautiful city.

Our last day has been filled with those last minute things we have not had time yet to see - our list included only those things of utmost priority.

First stop, our last visit to Cafe Oberlaa of course! This place has been our home away from home, a pit stop in the middle of the city fueling our ever going engines. Caffeine and sugar have been our best friends this trip.

Historically, we decided to visit the Greek Orthodox Church near Schwedenplatz beyond Stephansdom. Until Joseph II unveiled his plans for reformation, including religious toleration in the 1700's, Vienna and the remaining lands under Habsburg rule were exuberantly Catholic. However, Joseph II lifted the ban on Protestantism and other religions aside from Catholicism were allowed to be practiced; the law, however, required these buildings to have plans facades, in order that they not be recognized as religious houses from the outside and by strangers. In the 19th century this law was lifted, and the Greek church was modernized in 1833 into a more ornate church. In 1856 and 1858 Theophil Hansen, the famous Ringstrasse architect, redesigned the Greek church in a Byzantine style, laying the foundations seen today from both the outside and on the inside (tourmycountry.com).

The outside was truly majestic, with Byzantine colors and motifs featured on every square inch of its facade. Upon entering, there is a small hallway, acting as a foyer, with Greek plaques on the walls. The entrance to the inner church is farther back, allowing for the eyes to adjust to the darkness - as opposed to the Baroque churches throughout the city, this Byzantine jewel was not built to draw in light and invoke the spirit of God. The Greeks followed orthodoxy, taking religion more seriously than their Catholic counterparts. Also, the church itself is quite smaller than any other we have seen. The ceiling was decorated with gold and with the images of Jesus, Mary, and the prophets. In the front of the church was the altar and a gate, leading back to the inner sanctuary. Unfortunately, it was not accessible to the public. The frescos and gold ornamentation was beautiful however, and the Greek inscriptions reminded me of the coming fall and the start of classes - luckily translating on the spot was not required here!

After the church, we wandered through the streets for the last time, passing the historic centers surrounding the Graben and Michaelerplatz. We met our group at the Prater, the large hunting park used by the Habsburgs for recreational purposes. Today, it is used by Viennese families, for various sports, and houses a small theme park with rides. As a group, we went on the infamous ferris wheel from Orson Welles' The Third Man, seeing the city with the advantage of height. For dinner, we trekked across the city to a restaurant where upon arriving we were served dinner on swords - unlimited alcohol and metal swords turned out to be a tempting combination for some!

Our last ride on the subway felt strange - I am heading back to the land of suburbia, dominated by cars and supermarkets. Europe already feels so far away.

Jesuitenkirche

It seems that the best advice I have gotten has been from locals, in particular, two men - one a canon at a monastery and the other an intern at the U.N..

The canon told me to try Oberlaa cafe for coffee and cake - it is now our favorite cafe and it does, indeed, have the best melange and apflestrudel around.

The U.N. intern told me to find the Jesuit Church and explore the inside, since it is one of the finest gems of the baroque style in Vienna.

So, today after class and lunch, I decided to get lost. I started walking on Kohlmarkt, but instead of heading to the Hofburg, I walked the opposite direction and then southwest down to the Ringstrasse. However, although I knew the general direction of where I was heading, I hadn't yet explored the small streets and alleys in that part of the innerstadt. As i wandered, I came upon a small square that would almost appear as a dead end if not for a small archway under a building leading through the plaza. There were some restaurants, and the building for the old University of Vienna took up the main center of the square. To the left though, there stood a huge church, tucked in between tall buildings so it was almost unnoticed. This style of churches blending into other buildings harks back to Joseph II's Edict of Toleration, where other religions were allowed under the empire but Protestant and Jewish churches and synagogues could not stand out as buildings - they could not look like churches. It turns out that here, I had unknowingly stumbled upon the baroque gem which I was told to seek out.

The history of the Jesuit Church and the presence of Jesuits in Vienna is interesting. After the liberal and Protestant-leaning emperor Maximilian II died, Archduke Charles invited the Jesuits to Vienna to play a role in the Catholic Counter-Reformation. The Jesuits positioned themselves near the Am Hof, where they initially obtained control over university education, thus using public education as a platform for their doctrine. However, they soon moved to the church's current location near the old University of Vienna so as to have more control and influence over education and in fighting Protestantism and to align themselves with the philosophy and theology departments of the school. The church was built between 1623 and 1627, influenced by early baroque styles and motifs. However, the church was rebuilt and refashioned into an even heavier style of baroque under the architect Andrea Pozzo in 1703 (completed in 1705) who was commissioned by Leopold I. The original church had been dedicated to Saint Ignatius Loyola and his co-founder of the Society of Jesus, Francis Xavier, but the remodeled church was rededicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary.

Compared to the relatively plain facade (almost reminiscent of a Renaissance courtyard or the like), the inside is the epitome of baroque. Marble twisted columns rise up on each side of the many chapels extending off of the main aisle of the church. The pews are carved with intricate details, the ceiling is covered with four massive frescos, and the gold work on the pulpit, altar, and the ceiling is quite astounding. Pozzo painted frescos of angels, the trinity, and other biblical scenes in the style of quadratura, where architecture, painting, and sculpture are united under illusionary scenes. This combination of styles allows the viewer to see a fresco as three dimensional; the church's ceiling is a sort of trompe l'oeil, playing with perspective and with illusions - the actual ceiling of the church is flat instead of domed as in the ceiling's fresco.

On another note, I watched The Third Man last night, an Orson Welles movie filmed in the 1950's in postwar Vienna. It was neat to go around today while getting "lost" and recognize certain locations within the film. Also, there was a neat connection between the postwar theme of the movie which emphasizes the east meeting the west, and the NYTimes articles I drew upon yesterday when discussing Vienna as a cultural, espionage, and diplomatic center between the east and west. It is intriguing to see the aspects of postwar Vienna which have evolved and those which have been transformed into something different - such as the notion of Vienna as a literal and figurative meeting place between the east and the west which still rings true today, yet the cultural fear of the police and the suspicion nurtured within the people by the occupation of different zones after 1945 is no longer evident within the city.

Today's German Word:

Fußball - 'soccer'

Recent Headlines

I have compiled articles from the New York Times and other relevant news resources concerning some of the museums we have visited, Vienna as a city, and the UN. Since my other posts tend to be long, I have decided to compile excerpts from these various articles and my responses to them in a concise narrative in one post.

NYTimes July 20, 2010 - "Leopold Museum to Pay $19 million for Painting Seized by Nazis" by Randy Kennedy - In 1938 an Egon Schiele painting ("Portrait of Wally" 1912) was seized by the Nazis from Lea Bondi Jaray, a Jewish gallery owner in Vienna. In 1954, Mr. Leopold acquired the Schiele painting through good faith and a legal transaction, making it part of his personal collection now housed at the Leopold Museum. In 1997 the painting was lent to the MOMA for a temporary exhibition, but was seized by the US government who claimed that Leopold did not have rightful ownership of the painting. The MOMA and the Leopold Museum believed the painting should be returned to the Leopold. However, the US government was stubborn in its insistence that the painting was not legally owned by the Leopold. In the end, the Leopold paid $19 million to the Jaray family for the Schiele painting, the painting spent some last weeks at the MOMA in a temporary exhibit, and the US government dismissed the case upon the Leopold Museum's payment for the painting. This entire situation is an ongoing struggle, with many families coming out and claiming that paintings within the Leopold and within the Belvedere collections were stolen by the Nazis and that they should be returned to the original owners. These legal cases are modern manifestations of the ongoing effects of the Nazi regime into the cultural realm of Vienna and eastern Europe as a whole.

NYTimes June 8, 2010 - "U.S. Presses Its Case Against Iran Ahead of Sanctions Vote" by David E. Sanger - Today at the U.N. we learned about the Non-Proliferation Treaty regarding nuclear weapons. Iran is a member of this treaty, but has been found in violation of many of its articles and in enriching uranium. There is an ongoing battle between the U.N. specialists and Iran, the U.N. asking why there are tests and nuclear materials unaccounted for and articles violated while the latter is stating its right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes. This article states that the U.S. is putting forth new information, revising its previous findings from 2007 that although production of Iran's nuclear fuel had increased, Iran's leadership had suspended work on nuclear weapons designs. However, the U.S. is now pressing for sanctions to be put on Iran by the U.N Security Council as the fourth round of votes for sanctions against Iran comes up. The U.N. and the Obama administration is presenting evidence to the Security Council showing that Iran has revived elements of its design program for nuclear weapons. According to the IAEA, suspicion of Iran's nuclear programs has risen due to its "possible military dimensions to its nuclear program" and that Iran "has not provided the necessary cooperation to permit the agency to confirm that all nuclear material in Iran is in peaceful activities." After today at the U.N., it seems that if Iran was truly using uranium and nuclear technology for peaceful activities, the tests and enrichment of uranium would be easily explained and there would be transparency regarding their tests and their actions. Iran's lack of cooperation seems to point to other uses of nuclear technology for non-peaceful ends. [This article is a follow up on an article from May 2010 which stated that Iran had expanded its work at its nuclear sites and that it has enough nuclear fuel for two nuclear weapons].

NYTimes July 13, 2010 - "U.S. Wary of South Korea's Plan to Rescue Nuclear Fuel" by Choe Sang-Hun - Aside from tensions with North Korea and Iran about their nuclear tests and production of nuclear weapons, tension between South Korea and the U.S. is beginning to emerge due to South Korea's desire to recycle nuclear fuel. The article states that South Korea is quickly running out of room to safely store used nuclear fuel, and has expressed interest in reusing this fuel for nuclear reactors which provide 40% of the nation's electricity and in reducing waste. However, S. Korea is still under an agreement with the U.S. from 1974 that prohibits the nation from recycling nuclear fuel since recycling produces plutonium which can then be used for both nuclear reactors (and thus electricity) and nuclear bombs (in the example of North Korea). S. Korea insists that its only aim is to reduce waste while producing electricity, but the U.S. has not lessened its suspicion on South Korea's attempts from the 1970s in making nuclear weapons and believes that it will set a precedent, thus encourage North Korea's nuclear weapons project since tensions between N. and S. Korea are also not diminishing. This entire situation revolves around politics more than it does science, especially since the U.S. has allowed India (not part of the NPT) to recycle its spent nuclear fuel. Even with alternative options such as pyroprocessing (the plutonium produced would not be pure enough to use in nuclear weapons) and recycling the fuel outside of S. Korea, the United States remains overtly wary of South Korea's attempts at nuclear recycling.

NYTimes July 9, 2010 - "Vienna Still a Spot for Cloak-and-Dagger Work" by Nicholas Kulish - This article discusses Vienna's role as an international city, especially in regards to the recent exchange between agents at the Viennese international airport. Vienna is the home of the United Nations in Vienna, contains the IAEA, the UNODC, and is a key city between the east and the west. During the Cold War, Vienna was at the edge of the Iron Curtain yet remained neutral, encouraging spies to conduct business here; only spying against Austria is a crime - espionage in itself is legal. Even Vienna's high concentration of emigrants contributes to a high number of intelligence officers within the city reporting on political and social dissidence within these communities. However, in contrast to the still high concentration of intelligence officials and espionage activities within Vienna, the Mercer Human Resource Consulting firm listed Vienna as its most livable city in the world. This second NYTimes article ("The Best Place to Live?" by H.D.S. Greenway, May 26, 2010) states that "Vienna used to seem a little sad - all those grand imperial buildings with no empire left, stuck on a dead-end street at Western Europe's Cold War frontier. But with the Iron Curtain gone, Vienna is once again at the center of the Central European crossroads and is enjoying its place in the sun." Having seen both the imperial side of Vienna at the Hofburg and the diplomatic side of Vienna at the U.N., I can agree that Vienna is a meeting place of intelligence officers for good reason, yet I can more than readily agree with the second article stating that the tension between imperial with no empire and an old Cold War center with a war no longer cold is finally being reconciled, producing a city culturally, diplomatically, and historically beautiful.

The U.N.

Today's visit to the United Nations in Vienna was amazing. I wasn't sure what to expect, especially since I study neither modern history nor political and international relations, but the lectures were interesting and engaging nonetheless. We arrived and went through security, officially leaving Austrian territory. We were able to sit in the cafe for a while and soak it all up before our tour guide arrived.

Our tour guide first led us into one of the viewing rooms for the main conference room, telling us about who attends these conferences and the obstacles regarding languages. There are six official languages within the United Nations, those being English, French, Russian, Arabic, Chinese, and Spanish. German is also spoken at the Vienna UN since it is in Austria, but it is not considered an official language. Interpreters must know on average three languages upon being hired, but they are only allowed to translate for 30 minutes before taking a break. Translators are responsible for not only translating a conference from its given language into their mother tongue and perhaps a third language, but they are also responsible for conveying notions, concepts, and subtleties with little to no delay. To work as an interpreter for the UN, interpretation studies is not necessary, but the fluent knowledge of three languages is a must.

After viewing the conference room, we were led into a smaller lecture hall where a representative for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was waiting for us. His lecture gave us a brief overview of the UN's role and responsibilities concerning the production and use of nuclear sources.

The IAEA's motto is "Atoms for Peace," conveying their governing principle of promoting the peaceful use of atomic energy. The organization grew out of an idea initiated during the bombing of Hiroshima and the fear of annihilation during the Cold War between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R.. The organization was thus formed in 1957 to promote the responsible use of nuclear resources. The IAEA deals with the dual nature of nuclear technology - its use for nuclear energy and its use for weapons of mass destruction. At the heart of nuclear energy is the nuclear fuel cycle, where uranium is mined, converted to gas, enriched and then either recycled or disposed of. At any point in this cycle, the materials can be diverted from the aim of nuclear energy and used instead for weapons and bombs. The IAEA thus monitors whether these materials are being diverted from this cycle and who is diverting them. It is not their responsibility to regulate the environmental or social impact that nuclear materials may have since states themselves are sovereign, but the IAEA creates guidelines for using nuclear materials peacefully.

The IAEA principally promotes the peaceful application of nuclear applications and technologies. In the 1950's when few countries has the resources (financial and intellectual) to initiate research into nuclear technology, the IAEA saw nuclear technology as information which should be shared. Now, although still maintaining the principle that nuclear information is valuable and useful thus meant to be shared, the IAEA is also intent on setting up guidelines ensuring that nuclear information is used and shared with peaceful ends.

In 1968 the Non-Proliferation [of nuclear weapons] Treaty was signed by the UN, assigning another task to the IAEA. The NPT made the IAEA responsible for the fundamental control of non-proliferation (thus, as there is a dual use of nuclear technology, the IAEA has a dual mandate). Non-proliferation is not a responsibility of the IAEA, but its fundamental foundation influenced by media, international pressure, and set guidelines by the UN is now in the hand of the IAEA. 182 countries signed this treaty. The nuclear weapons states which are legally authorized to build and have nuclear weapons are the U.S., the U.K., Russia, France, and China since all five countries exploded a nuclear device before January 1967 and thus before the formation of the treaty. These states are not to transfer nuclear weapons, they are to facilitate the peaceful use of nuclear energy, and they are to pursue disarmament. The non-nuclear states which are not legally allowed to have nuclear weapons but who have signed the treaty are not to proliferate weapons and they are to accept the safeguards set up by the IAEA to assure peaceful use of nuclear technology. The goal is that someday, no state will possess nuclear weapons, thus they promote non-proliferation (but not necessarily disarmament). Those who fall outside of the NPT are India, Pakistan, and Israel, of which the first two do possess nuclear weapons and the last is suspected to have nuclear weapons. In 2003, North Korea left the NPT, and subsequently ran one unsuccessful and then later a successful test for nuclear weapons.

The three pillars of the IAEA are 1) safety and verification, accounting for nuclear resources and technology; 2) safety and security, promoting safety within nuclear plants and guarding against nuclear terrorist threats; and 3) science and technology, researching effective ways to use nuclear energy.

After the first lecture, we were able to grab lunch with the other UN workers and interns in the cafe, and were lucky enough to sit next to the intern assigned to our first lecture. He is working on his masters in Vienna in European politics and is interning for two months at the UN; he was very gracious is letting us pick his mind for hangouts and neat things to do in Vienna. After lunch, we went back to the lecture hall to hear from the Human Trafficking agency.

I was particularly interested in this lecture, since one of my best friends and my roommate from last year founded the SOLD Project in Davis (fighting child sex slavery in Thailand), has spent the last two summers in Thailand, and is currently involved in passing legislation with the California Against Slavery campaign. I have been able to learn so much from her and to become involved on campus a bit with SOLD, so I was extremely interested to learn about the UN's role in human and sex trafficking.

The lecture began by stating that the victims of human trafficking are often hard to identify since before 2000 there was no international definition for human trafficking and there is so much red tape in catching and prosecuting traffickers. However, in 2000, the UN passed the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children. This protocol thus provided the first international definition of human trafficking, and identified three aspects to trafficking: the act, the means, and the purpose.

Traffickers often take advantage of national and natural disasters, war, poverty, and unfulfilled dreams. However, the trafficker is not always the recruiter, since recruiters are often those who are more integrated into the smaller communities. Traffickers traffic victims for either labor, organs, or sex, but there is often a blur between the three. All types of transportation of victims is used, making it much harder to stop the crime. Also, there is a blurred line between smuggling and trafficking, since smugglers and traffickers often work together and since recruiting for both is carried out at every stage of transporting the victims. The main difference, however, is that smuggling is a crime committed against the state where the victim has given consent, whereas trafficking is a violation against human rights and often lacks proper consent.

The main problem in human trafficking is that there is often a focus on the victim's illegal passport and such, and thus the trafficker is able to slide under the radar. Officers don't know how to recognize the signs of trafficking and either ignore them altogether or prosecute the trafficker on another crime thus eliminating any chance of charging the perpetrator with human trafficking. It is with this problem that the IAEA attempts at promoting dialogue - to train and raise awareness concerning the signs of trafficking. Another large problem is the issue of consent - often victims give consent to initial recruiters, but are later deceived or have been coerced. Through these improper means, consent is invalidated (consent with children is never an issue since all forms of child trafficking is improper).

The main type of human trafficking is sex slavery and exploitation, accounting for 75% to 80% of all types of trafficking, although trafficking for organs and for forced labor are common as well. The Human Trafficking Agency at the UN focuses mainly on the criminal justice component, as well as rehabilitation and the protective witnesses program. The agency often runs into difficulty with religious rules and traditions as well, which play a large part in psychological imprisonment and which are hard to disconnect victims from. I had a list of questions to ask the lecturer, but unfortunately my questions became irrelevant when I realized that the UN and the Human Trafficking Agency has no legal control over individual sovereign states, but that they are only able to advise, promote, train police, and seek out reforms and guidelines to offer to those states who ask for help. They work closely with NGO's, but they are distinctly separate from localized governments.

My Questions:

1. Does the UN find localized education for high risk victims an effective way of combatting human trafficking?

2. What are the biggest deterrents for traffickers when the majority of the police focus on a victim's legality or lack thereof as in the video shown to us?

3. What are some active steps in localized governments where trafficking is prominent that the UN is taking to implement the Protocol from 2000 in contrast to promoting this protocol?

4. What are the strongest forms of prevention? Localized victim education? National legislation? International legislation? Public education?

5. Which is more effective: punishing the pimps through legislation (top-down policy) or educating the victims and those in high risk situations (bottom-up approach)?

6. How much influence does the UN have when training police to recognize victims of trafficking?

7. How does the UN feel or react to online sex-trafficking such as the current situation on Craiglist?

8. Is this is a "cult issue" or a "trend issue?" What has spurred recent interest in the issue of human trafficking?

9. How does the UN understand and regulate those who claim that they have chosen into prostitution rather than being sold into prostitution (referencing the recent articles in the New York Times and CNN which target Craigslist as a site of illegal soliciting and forced prostitution)?

10. There is a concern that the current financial crisis is causing an increase in sex slavery in Cambodia (according to the UNIAP). Is there fear that this trend has or will develop in the U.S. or other countries?

Although I felt my questions were inapplicable to the lecture today since there was a big focus on the sovereignty of the state and the UN's role in promoting and creating guidelines instead of the UN's role with local NGO's and education for high risk victims, I was able to gather a unique insight into an international crisis which I had not previously been privileged to have.

Jugendstil and Judaism

"Nothing impractical can ever be beautiful."

- Otto Wagner

Today we had a tour at the Leopold Museum, the personal collection on display of Mr. and Mrs. Leopold. The museum is fairly new, housed in a specially constructed building to highlight the expressionist and Jugendstil art. Leopold began collecting art when he inherited a stamp collection from an uncle, which he then sold, making enough capital to begin purchasing art in the 1950s. Upon graduating college, he turned down an offer for a car from his parents in order to obtain a painting by Egon Schiele from London, thus beginning his long time fascination with and love for Schiele's paintings and sketches which were hardly famous at the time.

Leopold also had a strong affinity for Gustav Klimt's work - the main painting in the gallery being Death and Life (1910).

Before this particular expressionist style of painting, Klimt was associated with the art of the Ringstrasse group, embracing historicism and classical motifs. However, after three of his paintings were rejected by the University (who was responsible for the paintings' commissioning), Klimt left the Ringstrasse culture and became involved with the Secessionists, eventually becoming their president and painting Death and Life. This particular painting refers back to Klimt's unfinished painting in the Belvedere of The Bride, in both its figures and its positioning. In Death and Life, death is depicted as almost playful or sly, creeping on tip toes over to those alive. In 1915 when death was abounding amidst the unfolding drama of World War I, Klimt came back to revise this painting, adding another column of figures to contract the space between the dead and the living. In the group of the living, a mourning couple is positioned in front, while an older woman with the same coloring as death (and thus she has some association with death) is behind them. The top figures look very much alive, yet sleeping peacefully. The figures on the left, tucked in closest to death are the added figures, their open eyes forcing us and allowing us to relate to death; they are acting as the mediators between the dead and the living.

Another Secessionist who had left the culture of the Ringstrasse was the architect Otto Wagner, most famous for his Jugendstil buildings and his green Stadt Bahn stations. He famously stated and promoted the notion that the art of the past should not be copied, but that new art should be made. He championed function over form, thus rejecting the essential nature of the Ringstrasse culture.

Another room displaying furniture and artifacts collected by Leopold highlighted the Vienna workshop, co-founded by Josef Hoffman and Koloman Moser. Their main aim was to bring together artists, architects, and various other talents to provide various items accessible to the public. However, once this style became popular, the public was no longer able to obtain the items, defeating the workshop's original intent. Along with this room, Adolf Loos was also mentioned, being an architect of the mindset that when the best materials are used in a building's design and construction, there is no need for ornamentation. He thus rejected the decoration and ornate brass details embraced by the Secessionists, designing buildings 'without eyebrows'.

After this room, there were several others which highlighted artists such as Oskar Kokoschka, Richard Gerstl, and a special exhibit with many (dark and depressing) paintings and sketches by Egon Schiele.

Our tour ended in the Schiele exhibition, and was followed by a walking tour through the older part of Vienna and the Jewish quarter. The Jews have a long history in Vienna (as already explored in a previous post on the Jewish Museum), and today allowed us to see the physical places where this history was established and created.

The Jews were part of the high medieval economy, playing an integral part in the long distance trading between the Ottoman Empire and Austria after they were expelled from Spain in 1492 and settled among the Turks. In 1238 however, it became legal for Jews to live in Vienna, allowing them to build a synagogue as well. Although the Jews were legally allowed to live in Vienna and German territories, they were confined to certain area, qualifying them unofficially as ghettos. In 1420, a case of host desecration was committed in Enns, near Vienna, reverberating within the Austrian territories and leading to the mob violence against and the expulsion of the Jews from Vienna in 1421 by Duke Albrecht V (their synagogue was also destroyed at this time). There is still a plaque in the Judenplatz today which praises the pogrom of this time.

Also within the Judenplatz stands a modern memorial, taking up a large portion of the square and falling within the old boundaries of they ruined synagogue. It was built in response to the two memorials outside of the Albertina, one commemorating all those who were victims of war and fascism (dedicated to those non-Jews whose apartment was bombed) and and the other showing a Jew bound in barbed wire forced to scrub the streets. It is designed as a square library, but with all its books turned spine in, and with doors lacking knobs. This library has no access. Around the base of the library, all 41 camps where Austrian Jews were killed are listed, and there is an inscription stating

"In commemoration of more than 65,000 Austrian Jews who were killed by the Nazis between 1938 and 1945."

The books symbolize the Jews as a people of The Book, but these books - the life stories and the religion of the Jews - became inaccessible through the death inflicted by the Nazis, thus we as people can see the books, but we cannot see their titles nor their content. The Jew's contribution to the cultural intellectualism of Vienna and to the world at large is lost, and not seen - the lack of titles shows an evident cultural void.

There was a lot of dissent and disagreement among our group, with many feeling that since the inscription specified "Austrian Jews," it should have also specified that they were killed by "Austrian Nazis," their fellow citizens and countrymen. However, I don't feel that this monument aims at making a political statement, nor does it aim at pointing a finger. I believe that this monument was made for Austria, thus specifying the Austrian Jews whose lives were cut short. This monument remains ambiguous in its use of the term 'Nazi,' allowing the blame to fall on all those who declared themselves Nazis and not one specific type of Nazi. I do believe that it is important to distinguish and point out that Austrian Jews were indeed killed by their fellow Austrian Nazis, but this monument was not intended for that purpose. Rather, this monument is an appropriate commemoration of the Jews within the Austrian borders (hence the monument is IN Austria) and avoids making a political statement by refraining from engaging in the conflict between Austrians killing their fellow Austrians.

This monument does, however, fall into the area of discussion brought up by Ruth Kluger, namely, are these sorts of stereotypical images and monuments beneficial to the memory of the Holocaust, or should the images from individual stories be sufficient and be embraced over the physicality of memorials?

Sunday Religion

Today I had to myself since a group of people had gone away for the weekend, so I decided to head to Cafe Central and then to the Kunsthistorisches for my third (and last) time.

Cafe Central has come to be one of my favorite cafes in the central area of Vienna. It is close to the Hofburg rather than the overly crowded Stephansplatz, and is a few blocks back so the amount of foot traffic is significantly less. Although all of the guide books say that this old-school cafe now caters to tourists, I would have to disagree. The small front patio is definitely filled with tourists, but once inside, there is a definite balance between tourists and locals. The inside is very old fashioned with iron chandeliers, high arched ceilings, red velvet booths and chairs, marble columns. The service is spot on, and the Wiener Eiskaffee is amazing (it is this heavenly drink we discovered upon our first visit of chilled coffee, vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, and pirouette cookies on top). If only Starbucks made this sort of iced coffee...

After working on some background information for the artists I was about to study, I headed over to the Kunsthistorisches Museum to visit the Baroque and Renaissance art collections on my own. It being a Sunday, it seemed oddly appropriately to work on a comparison between Catholic and Protestant art since both collections seemed to focus on the theme of religion.

The Protestant Artists:

1. Rembrandt - Rembrandt was a dutch painter who transformed classical iconography to fit his own experiences. He had an extreme empathy for the human population, including the Jews.

Artistically, he employed the technique of chiaroscuro - the theatrical employment of light and shadow (similar to Caravaggio). His Self-Portrait illustrates this technique wonderfully - the dark shadows and background of his smock and his studio stand in stark contrast to his face. His self-portrait also shows the critical influence which the Protestant Reformation had on his artistic creativity - namely, moving away from the glory of man embodied within the Renaissance, Rembrandt saw (and thus painted) himself as a humble man before God and grace. The glory of man thus came to be replaced with the baseness of man, both in his own life and in his paintings.

2. Vermeer - Vermeer was a Dutch baroque artist who painted many pictures of the middle class making popular the genre style of painting. He used light and color in a specified style; in his The Art of Painting differing shades of blue and yellow are used to compose the entire painting; he often layered loose colors onto his canvases in a manner called pointille. His Protestantism was well known in his day (although he married a Catholic), leading him to paint genre scenes of daily life rather than engage in the religious propaganda embraced by Catholic and Protestant artists alike.

3. Bruegel - Pieter Bruegel the Elder was a renaissance painter from the Netherlands who was the first to begin painting landscapes for his own sake rather than for the sake of religion. He painted many genre paintings, and used peasants as his main figures. He was not associated with a religion in particular, viewing the institution of religion as an obstacle to God, but his The Fight Between Carnival and Lent shows the religious paradoxes between the religiously emaciated group "celebrating" lent against the excess and inebriation of the revelers during Carnival. Hence, we see a man struggling to interpret religion against both the backdrop of Catholicism and the challenging notions put forth by the Reformation.

The Catholic Artists:

1. Rubens - Rubens was a Flemish baroque artist who used sensuality, movement, and light to promote the cause of the Counter-Reformation.His Annunciation of Mary made for a Jesuit organization in 1610 shows the careful use of light and shadows to contrast Mary and the angel Gabriel - her royal blue dress and the symbolic red curtain behind her are separated by darkness from the golden hair of Gabriel and his orange robe. The white dove above also shows the contrast between light and dark and shows the fluidity between the heavenly and the earthly.

2. Titian - Titian was a dynamic painter from the Venetian School of art who used broad brushstrokes and vivd color to convey his messages. His Assumption of Mary has been used for religious doctrine within the Catholic church; his Violante (the painting's coloring is drawn from the violet tucked into the woman's dress) also is considered Catholic since it shows the stigma of prostitutes during the Early Modern Period. The woman is dressed in the grand dress which prostitutes were told to wear in order that they would be publicly recognized and the yellow color of her prominent skin and hair was used as a stigma for the outcasts and the prostitutes.

3. Raphael - Raphael was a painter during the High Renaissance and was employed by the Vatican (Pope Julius II) to create frescos within the Vatican rooms. He was the standard to which renaissance artists compared their works - after his death, mannerism and the baroque style were embraced. His Madonna in the Meadow embraces the spiritual thinking of the renaissance, illustrating the eternally valid in the horizon and the appreciation for humanity amongst the triangle of figures.

Amongst all of the artists shown within the Kunsthistorisches Museum, there were a lot that stood out, both for their content and for their beautiful paintings. However, the above artists are some of the more well-known artists and their works have had a profound impact on religion. Most of the artists shown have at least one religious painting - the question of Catholic or Protestant lies, rather, in the interpretation of and the message conveyed within the painting itself.

Jewish Museum

Today after class we headed over to the Jewish Museum to try and see what we could learn about such an integral culture within Vienna. The museum's lower level had artifacts concerned with the various holidays throughout the Jewish year, including those relics used during temple services and associated with the Tabernacle. However, the second floor is where the history truly began.

The exhibit began with the expulsion of the Jews from Spain, where they fled to North Africa and into the Ottoman Empire. In 711 Spain was conquered by the Moors, but later the Reconquista pushed the Muslim influence out of the region. In 1492, Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain signed an edict expelling all Jews, participating in a mass ethnic cleansing. Some Jews fled to Portugal and then later to Amsterdam due to persecutions, and some established economic communities in the Balkans (parts of which were under the rule of the Ottoman Empire). These Sephardic Jews ('sepharad' is Hebrew for Spain) became assimilated into the Turkish empire, and were welcomed freely. When the peace treaty was signed between the Habsburgs and the Sublime Porte (referring to the Ottomans), Turkish citizens began to reside in Habsburgs lands, and Austrians began to settle in Turkish lands. Thus, due to these new cultural and economic relations, Sephardic Jews began to settle in Vienna. The Sephardic Jews became mediators between the east and the west, between orient and occidental, and between Asia and Europe.

In 1735 a treaty established the Turkish Sephardic Community in Vienna, but in 1830 the new Israelite law ended the community's autonomy, and they were incorporated into the Israelite community (The Association of Turkish Israelites).

Jews also settled in Bosnia (Sarajevo) after their expulsion from Spain, but with the establishment of the Yugoslavic state in 1918 and the subsequent German invasion , 75% of the Jews were sent to the Jasenovac Concentration Camp. The survivors after the war immigrated to Israel in 1948; only 1000 Jews remain today in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

When the Habsburgs were able to recapture Hungary from the Ottomans, there was a large influx of Ashkenazic Jews in Budapest, making the Sephardic Jews who had fled to Budapest now a minority.

The Ottoman conquest of Belgrade by Suleiman the Magnificent in 1521 led to an influx of Sephardic Jews in the city. Fights between the Habsburgs and the Ottomans over Belgrade continued until 1867 when the Kingdom of Serbia obtained complete independence. The Jews who fled to both Bulgaria and Thessaloniki were deported to concentration camps when the Germans invaded during WWII.

In Italy, the exhibition mentioned that attitudes toward the Jews were ambivalent and oscillating between acceptance and discrimination; the Republic of Venice was the first nation to implement a Jewish ghetto.

The Jewish musicians in Vienna were executed and exiled, and after the war, many refused to return to a land which had denounced and ignored their contributions to culture and history. As the exhibit mentioned, in exile they became a testimony to Vienna's past - while valued abroad they were only distantly remembered at home.

The exhibit itself focused mainly on the regional diaspora of the Jews after their expulsion from Spain, and did not detail the Holocaust. However, the second floor had a temporary exhibit of Ernst Toch, a classical and film score musician, who went into exile during WWII to avoid Hitler's wrath. The exhibit included more history from WWII, but was extremely modern with everything displayed on glass holograms and a mock pool patio as the backdrop.

Apart from the top floor, the Jewish Museum was extremely enlightening and gave a much needed and yet concise context for the Jewish culture in Vienna.

Jugendstil & Biedermeier

Both yesterday and today we focused on the response to the Austrian government and social structure under Metternich after the Napoleonic wars. Much of the art reflecting these attitudes are found at both the Belvedere and the Wien Museum.

Metternich was the political minister in Austria during and after the Napoleonic wars, enacting social measures to oppress and suppress revolutionaries. The revolutionary attitudes abundant in France during and after the French Revolution were feared by European rulers, and Metternich in Austria was afraid that the revolutionary spirit would spread to Austria. Thus, he is known for his suppression of democracy, instilling fear of the public and of those one does not know. The almost xenophobic attitudes he created led to a direct artistic response by the social classes, especially the middle class. His suppressive, or reactionary, government lasted until revolutions did begin in 1848.

The class of art which developed from this oppressive regime of Metternich's is referred to as Biedermeier, and was commissioned and purchased largely by the middle class. The Biedermeier style of art reflects the family, domestic unit, performing daily rituals and promoting the traditional gender roles within the family. Women were meant for church, the kitchen, and children; men were the head of the house - men of "modest ambitions and sober pleasures"; young girls were dressed in dressed, bows, and curls; and young boys were always in play (Parsons 195). However, these traditional roles portrayed in art did not aim at suppressing women and uplifting the man as the dominant male; rather it served to create a familiarity in an era where fear was associated with the outside world and strangers. Scenes were focused on activities within the home, where the family unit was gathered. The paintings of the Biedermeier period exuded a sense of gemutlich, or coziness with comfort and kitsch thrown in. These idyllic scenes portrayed an inner immigration into the safe homes and nature of the middle class and the notion of Biedermeier came to imply both appreciation and respect for "the culture it describes" (Parsons 196). The Wien Museum has a large collection of Biedermeier paintings, as did the Belvedere, portraying the middle class domestic family in traditional familial activities.

With the end of Metternich's government due to revolutionaries in 1848, the Biedermeier style was quickly dropped, and nationalism was embraced.

After revolutions broke out in 1848, another art style was embraced under the reign of Emperor Franz Joseph. With the tearing down of the old inner city fortification and with the establishment and growth of a new aristocracy, new attitudes developed. Economic growth, rapid urban development, and universal male suffrage in 1907 all led to a new class of wealthy aristocrats - the Ringstrasse barons - who established factories and created a free labor market, sending traditional guilds and craftsmen into poverty. The ascendency of the new aristocracy was rapid, and they tended to mimic the old aristocracy. Thus, the built large "palais" surrounding and radiating out from the Hofburg (royal court).

Many were built on Herrengasse ('lord's ally') and all were built within the first district. When the old city fortifications were torn down, new space for building was available, and the new aristocracy took hold. The Ringstrasse barons built lavish apartments and palaces where the walls used to stand, thus encircling the first district (hence its name, the Ringstrasse). These new buildings were built in the historicism style, a style which copied history's architecture; neo-classical, neo-renaissance, and neo-gothic buildings were the most prominent to be built.

The Opera house, Parliament, city hall, the Kunsthistorisches, and even the university were all designed and built during this time of historicism. This is the only time within the history of art and architecture where a new style was not made, but rather styles were copied and repeated.

However, this historicism was rejected by many, most notably the Secessionists. The Secessionists rejected the lack of imagination and the concern for form over function; instead, they embraced the freedom of art, the function of the art, and simplicity. A culture of 'critical modernism' emerged at this time, described by Allan Janik as a "rejection of the conventionalities of both established historicist culture, and also of aestheticist modernism" (Beller 172). Instead of criticizing modernity, or the lack thereof in the historicist style, they criticized the new modernity from within their new art. They "sought to restore an ethical imperative to modern art, rejecting the 'phrases' of convention...Schoenberg put it most succinctly that [music, art, architecture] "should not be an ornament, it should be true" (Beller 172).

The ornate decorum and the pomp and circumstance of the neo-gothic and neo-renaissance was replaced with organic motifs of flowers, trees, and leaves representing art's freedom. This new style started by the Secessionists was called Jugendstil ('new style'), known as art nouveau to many, and is on display at the Secession building. Function was highly valued over its inferior brother, form.

The most famous of the Secessionists was Otto Wagner, who prcolaimed that function itself was decoration. He built the Stadt Bahn stations still seen throughout the city (20 of the original 36 remain). He also designed two apartment facades in 1899 facing the Naschmarkt, complete with green leaves, bright flowers, and gold swirls. Gustav Klimst is another Secessionist, whose art work can be seen at the Belvedere and the Wien Museum, and who combined artistic techniques with the art of his goldsmith training. His paintings almost appear to be a precursor to cubism and expressionism due to the lack of clear lines and abstract shapes throughout his works. The Kiss, one of his most popular paintings (picture was not allowed) did appeal to me, unlike most of his other works. There was a tenderness and timidness in it, not found amongst the chaos and harshness of his other works.

Thus, throughout the city along the Ringstrasse and its connecting streets and even walking through the museums, one is able to see the progression from Biedermeier attitudes embracing the cozy familial unit to the historicism of the Ringstrasse era and finally to the modernism and functionality of the Secessionists. This evolving modernity was not only a cultural reflection, but a political reflection as well. Modernization and cultural modernity had "brought forth the notion of popular sovereignty," thus psychologically ending the Habsburg's imperial control over Vienna and Viennese culture. Soon after the notion of popular sovereignty developed, however, the reality of the monarchy's weakening powers was seen, and the populace no longer identified with the identity of the monarchy. Thus, the monarchy was "never able to establish in modern form the authority and legitimacy that it had possessed in the premodern past, and so could not finesse national loyalties" (Beller 193).

With the evolving styles of modernity throughout Vienna, from Biedermeier to Jugendstil to Ringstrasse, there is not only a manifestation of cultural ideals, but there is a prominent reflection of changing political ideals as well found within the art, architecture, and music of each era.

Ottoman Turks

17 August 2010

Tuesday in class the discussion centered on the Turkish sieges of

Vienna and the Ottoman Empire, complementing our recent visit to the Military Museum which has an Ottoman Turk exhibit, as well as tying in with today's visit to the Wien Museum.

The Ottoman Empire began in 1299 and ended in 1923 when it was dissolved due to its status as a losing power in World War I; its reign was about the same length as the Habsburg Empire in Austria. Its high points were in the 16th and 17th centuries, during which occurred the Turkish sieges of Vienna (in 1529 and 1683). It politically outshone the European power nations such as France and Spain, and was the only nonwestern nation which posed a challenge to the west.

In 1453, Constantinople fell, allowing the Turks to expand westward. After their attemtped siege on Vienna, the Viennese built a city fortress to protect themselves from further attacks (it is now the Ringstrasse which encircles the first district). In 1683, the Turks again attempted to siege Vienna, but were defeated at the battle of Zenta, leading to the treaty of Karlowitz, giving Hungary and Transylvania back to the Habsburg dynasty. In 1717, Prince Eugene of Savoy, a military general within the Habsburg court, finally defeated the Ottomans at a final battle; he was able to capture Belgrade and thus push the Ottomans back from Austria.

At the Military Museum, there was an assortment of weapons, uniforms, and flags, showcasing both the Turkish and Austrian armies. However, I found that the Wiener Museum presented the Austro-Turkish Wars in a much more straightforward and unpretentious manner; the Military Museum was simply too overwhelming and grand to take in each display case. In the Wiener Museum, the two center pieces communicated the style and culture of the Turkish army extremely well. The first center piece was four horse tails, the insignia for the Ottoman army's military ranks. Soldiers and generals received between one and nine horse tails - the more the better. These rugged looking staffs with horse hair, woven materials, and horns on

top illustrated the barbaric nature of the Ottomans, with an oriental flair in their colors and designs. The Ottomans were from the east, and thus were naturally considered barbaric in comparison with their civilized western counterparts. The second center piece was a large iron pole with spikes extending from it - almost reminiscent of a torture device. Rather, the contraption was used as a warning post; flammable fabrics were wound around the poles onto the spikes and were lit on fire, alerting military generals of a possible danger of retreat.

There were also two prominent paintings on display - each contrasting the other. The first was of Kara Mustapha Pasha, the army Grand Vizier (commander) of the Turkish siege of 1863; he was later executed at Belgrade. The painting shows a forlorn man in oriental dress, elegantly outfitted yet both distraught and committed to his fate. In the same room there is another painting, this one of Prince Eugene of Savoy who had Pasha executed. He is painted as a bold and fearless leader, dressed in robes and his war metals, with his imperial regalia draped around him. This pompous painting stands in stark contrast to the forlorn Pasha, and yet accurately details the Austrio-Turkish war.

The rest of the Wiener Museum was equally entertaining; the museum was constructed into three floors, starting with Vienna's Roman foundations and ending with the city's modern art movement and Biedermeier culture. The neatest piece in the entire museum had to have been the original stained glass windows from St. Stephen's removed during World War II - beautiful ornate images from biblical stories and churches. Absolutely breathtaking; only two panels behind the altar have remained within Stephansdom, the remaining panels are kept at the Wiener Museum.

Today's German Word:

Schmecken - 'to taste'

Bratislava

After being in the Alps, we were able to enjoy a long three day weekend - enough time to visit Bratislava on Saturday! Sidney, myself, and two other girls decided to catch the train to Slovakia and explore its capital - easier said than done.

We left around 12, and didn't catch the train until 2 due to our lack of navigational skills, not to mention the fact that to get to the train station, one has to take the U-bahn (subway), then the S-bahn (city train) and then catch the OBB (Austrian train). Anyways, we got lost several times, but finally made it to beautiful Bratislava. The town itself (the historical district where we spent our time) is fairly small, but beautiful and quaint nonetheless. Small winding streets lined with cafes and stores lead to churches, fountains, and bridges. We found a small Catholic church, with the stations of the cross made out of wood carvings spaced along the interior walls. A plague statue of Mary and Jesus stood outside - in view of the whole town. The most interesting thing to observe, however, was that there was a line for confession. Unlike Vienna where most of the population is non-religious and where churches are more a tourist destination than a religious house, this church has people actively standing in line and going in to receive confession. It was also interesting to note the contrast in how the church was preserved versus the how the Viennese preserve their churches - in Vienna, only the most original materials are used, in hopes of restoration. In this church, plastic, vinyl, and fake flowers adorned the alters and floors.

After the church, we wandered through the town, walking under St. Michael's Gate, the last of the medieval fortifications standing within the city. It was built in 1300, but underwent baroque reconstruction which we can still see today. It served as one of the four gates into the fortified city.

It seemed as if most of the buildings had been grand palaces at one time; now they all house various national embassies with flags proudly waving out front. The American Embassy was especially interesting due to it being the only embassy with heavy gates and security; might this be a silent manifestation of how the world perceives us and how we perceive our role as a world police, or a comment on the state of American politics? Also, we passed by several buildings and even a gated courtyard adorned with the crest of the Habsburg empire - their influence was more extensive than mere Austria, Bohemia, and Hungary.

We also ventured up to the castle, a critical fortress overlooking the land in all directions and inhabited since recorded history. It stands as a key focal point within the amber route, between the Carpathians and the Alps, along the Danube, and as a center of trade between east and west. It was once owned by the Celts, then by the Romans (similar to Vienna's own early history), and then was eventually under the rule of Hungary, becoming the Hungarian King's main castle. Baroque reconstruction overran the Renaissance style, and when Maria Theresia became queen of the Kingdom of Hungary in 1740, she made her own rococo renovations. Eventually, the office of governor of the Kingdom of Hungary was abolished, leaving the castle in shambles and ruins. Today, it has been restored, and is only partially open to the public.

The differences between Bratislava and Vienna were many - I much prefer Vienna's business and size than the always quite streets of Bratislava. However, due to its proximity and historical overlap with Vienna, it was an interesting day trip behind the old iron curtain.

I did find it interesting in Reading Beller's Concise History of Austria, when cultural nationalism was discussed as being encouraged as opposed to the "political quietism" practiced under the politician Metternich. He talks of how nationalism came of age "while the government suppressed political life" (120). Beller takes this notion of cultural nationalism and its emergence before World War I and applies it to Slovakia, where Metternich played one ethnicity or nation off of another, using the Slovakians against the Hungarians. He states that this use of one nation against another "explains the occasional encouragement of cultural nationalism among the 'nations without history' such as Slovaks, so called because they were seen as peasant nations without their own ruling class or established high culture" (121). After reading this, I would have to disagree, or rather challenge Beller's statement regarding the emergence of cultural nationalism and the lack of Slovakian history. As I have discussed in previous blogs, the memory or history of Austria has been long skewed; unlike Slovakia, Austria had a ruling elite, primarily the Habsburgs, which included the Esterhazy family and the Liechtenstein family. However, the morale of the Austrian citizen and the definition of what it means to be Austrian has also been tarnished due to its long ruling absolutist government and then the suppressive and oppressive reign of Adolf Hitler. WWI and WWII depleted the Austrian sole of a heritage, and raped them of their culture.

Thus, to say that nationalism, particularly cultural nationalism emerged is true, since the entire region of Eastern and Central Europe was attempting to create a culture particular to its people. However, for Beller to say that the Slovakians lacked a culture, while failing to address the Austrian's own lack of heritage and implying that Austrian heritage was in fact stable and established is a bold and brazen statement to make on his part.

As it was interesting to compare the atmosphere and streets of Bratislava and Vienna, so too is it intriguing to study the differences in perception held by historians of the two cities' cultures.

Eisenstadt

11 August 2010

Wednesday we headed out on a bus for the Alps, but took a detour to learn more about a prominent hungarian ruling family. We stopped at Eisenstadt, a small town outside of Vienna, the capital of Austria's easternmost state, Burgenland ('land of castles'). Eisenstadt was the main center of power for the Esterhazy family, a Hungarian noble family who owned a considerable amount of land during the Habsburg's reign, obtained from redistribution of Protestant lands, redistribution of land of the defeated Turks, and through marriages. They appealed both to the Habsburgs and the Catholic Church, thus gaining notoriety and prominence in Austria and in Hungary.

Count Nikolaus was the first member of the family to become powerful, elected as Palatine of Hungary in 1625. Nikolaus's son, Paul was soon elected Palatine of Hungary as well as Prince of the Holy Roman Empire by Emperor Leopold I and a member of the prestigious Order of the Golden Fleece, thus yielding considerable power. Paul inherited his father's stature and land, and he continued his expansion of land through marriage. Paul was a devout supporter of the Catholic Church, having been raised by Jesuits, and thus became a major patron of the local church in Eisenstadt. His first marriage was to his niece, Countess Ursula, to prevent the division of the Esterhazy lands and thus uniting them - leaving his lands to his two oldest sons upon his death also ensured the unity of the lands.

In 1946, the Esterhazy family lost all of their fortunes, becoming Swiss citizens and losing all of their land to the state. 500,000 acres of land were lost to the Hungarians, but some of their Austrian lands were retained.

Paul I's devotion to the Church led him to build a Franciscan church on an artificial hill within Eisenstadt, naming it Mount Calvary Church; they also oversaw a hospital. The church was built by 15th and 16th century Franciscans, portraying imitations of Calvary due to the Turks' siege on Jerusalem in 1071. The church was built in thanksgiving for driving the Turks from Austria and Eisenstadt - freedom, an army, and faith were the building blocks of the church.

Outside of the church there is a plague statue, erected in thanksgiving for surviving the plague; another plague statue is found on the Hauptstrasse (main street), in memory of the last plague to have come to Eisenstadt. The church itself is built highly irregular, with an uneven roof and stairs climbing the outside. Behind the altar lies a door, leading those religious on a physical tour of the stations of the cross, with an altar or small alcove dedicated to a particular station. These stations begin inside the church, but wind around and lead up to the church's roof, where the crucifixion of Christ is portrayed.

The most famous association with this church, and with the Esterhazy family, is the composer Haydn. Paul II became a patron to the composer Haydn, and later Nikolaus I became a patron as well, beginning a lasting and close knit history between the family and the composer. Haydn was the first composer to earn a salary from music, performing mainly in Vienna and was hired as Kapellmeister for the Esterhazy court. Inside the church lays both the Haydn organ on which Haydn played his various compositions, and Haydn's remains. In 1820, a crypt was built within the church, and to this day Haydn's remains are found there. His music stands apart from other classical composers in that it is not overwhelming with grandeur and pomp but shows raw talent and creativity. It is easy to listen to and does not require a particular mood for one to be in upon hearing it.

The palace we saw was once a medieval fortress of 250 rooms, built to fortify the family from the threat of Turkish invasion. However, in the 1660s, Paul began renovations to transform the palace from medieval to baroque. Thus, not only were we able to see the domination and power of the Esterhazy family within the style of the palace, we were able to see the family's close association to both the Catholic Church and classical music.

After our tour of the Esterhazy palace, we were given time to walk through the town, and then we were off to the Alps. We arrived at dusk, and had to take a gondola from the mountain's base to the top in order to arrive at the inn. The place was extremely neat, perched on the top of a mountain, and surrounded by amazing views. The inn is used as a ski resort in the winter, and as a popular hiking destination in the summer. Seeing the

beauty and grandeur of the Alps for the first time made it very clear the power of the Habsburgs and their intimidation to other nations - the sheer amount of land, impenetrable land at that, made the Habsburgs politically and financially powerful.