Reentry

I'm finally back home - it was a long flight! It feels good to be home in my own bed and eating dinners with my family, but it is weird to drive a car again and to buy a week's worth of groceries in one day. Even in the simple things - no pastry and melange for breakfast, no lunch at the deli in the city, no walking a mile before even eating breakfast, much less lunch! Going from living in a city for a month where everything is packed into a relatively small area, and where each encounter is an intense burst of energy - whether it be riding the U-Bahn or fighting through the crowds in the city center to get to class on time - to living back in the states where there is so much space and silence and no ability to just walk and explore and wander without boredom is such an odd transition.

Not only is it difficult transitioning back into a daily routine where walking seven miles and being out from 9am to 9pm is not required, but it is difficult to translate what I have seen into everyday conversation.

People ask me what I liked best, what thing was my favorite, to see pictures, and to hear my stories. I find it hard, though, to explain my answers to them, especially because all a person really wants to hear is the sentence-long answer with the most exciting details. However, the exciting bits were not the fabric of my trip; rather, the everyday mundane activities and interactions were the bulk of my experience. Making new friends, hiding away in the booth of a coffeehouse to people watch, eating scoop upon scoop of gelato, running to catch the subway to make it to class, getting lost and agonizing over the map looking like tourists, and then finally being addressed in German while walking - blending in and being mistaken for an actual Austrian - those were the pieces of the trip I remember best and which I treasure the most. So when I am asked about my favorites and about the bests, I don't have an answer. Nor do I show the 5,000 pictured I managed to take. Rather, I stumble over my words and give a noncommittal round-about answer about the Alps and the sacher cakes and the churches.

Not only is it difficult to describe my trip and identify its very essence and bones, but it is even harder to relate my experiences with the Viennese identity and experience. Throughout the month I have had the opportunity to talk with Austrians and Americans living in Austria about their view on Austria (politics, religion, and society), and I have seen Austria's own interpretation of itself through its museums and monuments. My attempts to reconcile the facts of history with personal perspectives and with the reality of Austrian architecture and monuments has not been easy. How does one reconcile that Hitler was a product of Austria and that Austrians were overjoyed when annexed into Germany, yet with hindsight Hitler was one of the most destructive and abusive men in history? How does an Austrian reconcile the monument to the Jewish man wrapped in barbed wire while honoring those Austrian non-Jews who were simply "victims of war and fascism" - do they honor one above the other or both equally? Is maintaining the concentration camps a form of glorifying the Holocaust, abusing its history (while ignorant tourists laugh and play within the barren barracks), or educating the public?

I honestly do not believe that it is possible, nor necessary, to find a harmonious balance and reconciliation between these truths - sometimes all we can do as humans is actively participate in the history of the present and learn about the history of the past. These things may not make absolute sense together, but they have occurred and they do exist, and so we must accept them and try to understand them as individual aspects of Austrian culture.

This trip has allowed me a rare and amazing glimpse into a people's pieced together culture - a culture not clearly defined; suppressed under a monarchy, dragged into a war, and then the victim and participant in a subsequent war. This nation without a defined character has taught me the uniqueness of its culture, drawing me into its fibers and allowing me to languish in its imperial majesty. Not only have I had the opportunity to meet people from the world over, but I have seen history face to face, touched its relics, and studied its traces. Vienna has been such a rewarding experience, and to say that I learned more in one month abroad than two years at Davis would be an understatement - I have never retained a subject matter so intensely and with so much detail as I have in learning about the Habsburgs. Translating my experiences into daily conversation may take some time, as I am still digesting some of the most intense moments (Mauthausen, etc), but what I gained from this trip I will always carry with me.

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.

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.

Debriefing

In class today we debriefed from our visit to the concentration camp, attempting to digest and make sense of what we saw. There was a general consensus that nothing new or significant was learned. Rather, another element, a visual layer, was added to our sense of understanding the Holocaust and concentration camps. These continued thoughts from our visit may seem disconnected from one another - similar to how we will always be disconnected to the camps, no matter how hard we try. There is no logic to these thoughts, just as there is no logic to these camps.

Someone saw the following etched onto a wall within the barracks by a former prisoner:

"If there is a God, He must plead for my forgiveness." A perspective we cannot even imagine or attempt to understand.

We discussed the memorials we saw, and how all memorials are political. They honor the victims in words which further that particular nation's political agenda - this is inevitable. They build the victims into a political or national model, whether consciously or subconsciously. Can there be an apolitical monument?

The 2003 plaques (shown on yesterday's blog) commemorating the American liberating forces almost seemed unnecessary. They seem to be the typical American response, glorifying the heros. This place is not about America and its Allied accomplishments, but it is about the victims. The plaques, although nice and appropriate in the correct context, seem violating here. Is there ever a correct context though?

It was stated that to fully grasp the situation of the camps one must oscillate between commemorating the individual and commemorating the mass. Is this the reason for the monuments outside of the camp?

Deaths in Mauthausen were mostly political, thus may it be appropriate to have or erect political monuments here?

Was there any fluidity in viewing and entering the gas chambers? The chambers were full during the war with the victims. Today, the chambers are filled with tourists and us. Is this an ironic fluidity or is this emotional vandalism?

In Ruth Kluger's biography, she protests against visiting these concentration camps, stating that tourism and visiting them only serves to glorify the crimes committed there. However, is there a middle ground, fluctuating between individual stories and guided tours? Is there a similar middle ground between glorifying or punishing the individuals involved in the Holocaust (war generals, surviving SS members) versus glorifying or punishing the mass victims and soldiers?

Is a compromise possible? May visiting under an educational premise with a tour guide be a compromise? When we were there, there were bikers visiting the barracks, children running and screaming, and laughing, families taking pictures, and pure ignorance by the majority of the viewers. Is less foot-traffic and a lessening of the "family-outing" mentality the answer? Who determines the bounds of regulating human behavior?

In regards to the camps, is time a dimension or rather a diminishing factor, lessening the importance and impact of a past history? When studying something, does a visual response strip away the academic element and force an emotional and physical visceral response? Does it place us in a place beyond and deeper than empathy?

Seeing the camps paralyzes the analytical factor - it is easy to analyze and speculate, but visual processing forces the experience to become more personal. We are disconnected, yet somehow drawn in, kicking and screaming, scared to enter the place of facing the truth. As I said before, I didn't learn any key information regarding concentration camps of the Holocaust which I did not know before. Rather, another element was layered upon my own understanding of the past events. The analyzing is now diminished.

There are layers to this unique, atrocious event, to visiting the camps, to cultivating responses. Questions such as "how do we regulate 'appropriate' visits and responses without actually regulating and making the camps less accessible," or "is joy even allowed amongst the now green grass and flowers and laughing kids?" Are the children we saw laughing and enjoying their visit not allowed to have a childhood of their own within the bounds of the camp since the children imprisoned in the concentration camps did not have childhoods? There are many questions, but somehow these questions seem satisfying in themselves. Answers are often unattainable.

Upon entering and touring the camp, I did have preconceived notions of how I would feel and how I should feel. I had judgments against the monuments. I still do not completely grasp them, nor do I believe that the monuments and the tourists lessen the glorification of the camp. I do not regret visiting, but I also would not go again. I appreciate the visual element which I gathered, but emotionally I remained numb - digestion and understanding are only just beginning.

Often visitors project their moral beliefs onto the victims. Does being the victim purify the person? We assume that yes, being victimized does purify that person, and thus we hold them to a higher moral standard.

What is the correct response?

Mauthausen

Today amidst the rain we visited Mauthausen Concentration Camp outside of Vienna. I want to refrain here from making any sort of conclusion from today in this post, focusing more on my observations, questions, and the paths which those question may lead me down. I feel that more time is needed for me to come to a conclusion (if one can every really come to any conclusion after such a visit) regarding what I saw.

The following are simply my reactions to our visit, our tour, and the images which I saw. Pictures of the camp itself will not be posted as well - they cannot do justice to such an atrocious past.

We arrived and met in front of the main gates leading into the camp - the only gates through which the victims were led. This camp was the mother camp of all Austrian concentration camps, with other satellite camps connected to it. There were about 200,000 prisoners here, most prisoners being political dissenters. The main goal was the elimination of political dissent against the Nazi regime through labor, thus classifying this camp as a type III camp (hard labor) instead of an extermination camp. Of the 200,000 prisoners, 30,000 were Jews, but there was in influx in the number of Jews here just before Auschwitz was liberated when the Jews were transfered from the camps closest to the Allies.

Around 100,000 prisoners did die, with 83,000 being liberated by Allied forces; the remaining 17,000 are unable to be accounted for due to missing records and such. Those who did die died through labor, abuse, malnutrition, disease, and gassing. The camp was built in Mauthausen due to its close proximity to a granite quarry; the first prisoners arrived here in August 1938 to begin building the buildings and walls.

Before entering the camp we saw the many, many monuments erected by different nations. Some commemorated individuals, some armies, some the victims. My first thoughts:

- It seems that the monuments take away from the gravity of the camp and tends toward glorifying its history.

- The monuments remember the soldiers more than they do the victims (in reference to the plaques praising the American liberating forces posted above).

- Are our attempts at "remembering" actually beneficial? Or are they more harmful to the memory of the camp?

- The various nations built these monuments, attempting at some form of closure to the unburied bodies. Is this really closure, or is this glorification? Or could it become a form of both?

- These monuments were built to give closure, but will there ever really be closure? Are these attempts futile?

- Is the best we can do simply remembrance [ through memorials]? Or are testimonies more useful and relevant? Does Ruth Kluger, as a survivor of Auschwitz, have a right to dictate Holocaust memorialism? Surely she has more right than I. Is her preference for testimony over monuments correct? Is there a correct preference?

How were the citizens of the town of Mauthausen supposed to react to the camp? Indifference? Feigned ignorance? Participation? Fear? Emotional self-protection? Our guide mentioned that many of the towns people felt honored since they too were Nazis. The camp gave them jobs in a time of war. However, now, their culture and their own hometown is rejected due to the camp and its history. These people cannot mention their own town without shame. Their sense of honor is now turned to shame. Their identity is now looked down upon due simply to the town's association with Nazism. Thus they are forced to disconnect from something as elemental and essential to a person's own identity as one's hometown.

Nowadays, many want the camp torn down, yet the mayor of Mauthausen himself is a tour guide at the camp. Is there a middle ground? The younger generation sees the camp as a responsibility, to remember; they are able to reject the actions of their grandparents and great-grandparents since they are distanced by several generations from the Holocaust.

During the camp's use, neither the SS nor the victims knew how to quarry stone or granite; thus, stone specialists and townspeople were employed in the quarry among the victims to help. They were forced to sign declarations of silence to keep the truth of the camps suppressed. Is this silence forgivable? Was this silence simply a matter of survival in a world filled with the threat of death and forced labor if one did not comply to the Nazi regime?

We were able to walk down into the quarry. The stones have been evened out to allow tourists to descend into the green plain which used to be the active quarry and labor site. Now it is serene and green. The steps, although smooth, are still stone, and are most steep. I cannot imagine carrying granite up stones rougher than the ones we used, all the while being beaten and abused, malnourished and under-clothed.

This silence and suppression surrounding just the camps and the declarations of silence has contributed to an emotionally backwards culture, family, and nation. It is human nature to remain silent for the safety of one's own family and children, but to attempt at justifying it when challenged remains difficult. Thus a collective guilt emerges from the peoples' silence.

Seeing the camp today, it looks old and run down. However, in the camp's operating days, it was quite modern with its showers and central heating.

We were told that individual creativity in regards to mockery and punishments dolled out by the SS was rewarded. The goals of the Nazis were articulated, but top-down instructions were not given. There was a sense of sadistic, inhuman humor alive here amongst the dead.

There was a gas chamber that was used, where 4,000 out of the 200,000 victims were killed. Gassing was only one method of extermination in this camp. It seems somehow fitting that while the insecticide used to kill the lice upon a victim's entry was also the same insecticide used to kill the victim in the gas chambers. Morbid, but logical according to the SS.

The most moving part to me, was not the gas chambers, not was it the memorials or the bunks in the barracks. Rather, the two remaining cremation ovens were the most disturbing remnants left within the camp. Walking through the gas chamber, one walks into two small rooms, where families have left pictures and stories of the victims' lives before the war and the camps. In this same room as the stories, pictures, and attempts at closure, there are two large cremation ovens. Bodies were burned, and their ashes used to pave and fortify the paths and streets surrounding the camp. It was such a morbid image. the gas chamber was a room, with its gassing tube removed by the Nazis so as to remove evidence. The ovens remain.

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.

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'

Heeresgeschichtliches Museum and the Kunsthistorisches Museum

15 August 2010

After Saturday in Bratislava, it was hard to go back to visiting museums on Sunday. However, we had to go to the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum (military museum) and revisit the Kunsthistorisches Museum to view the antiquities collection.

The Heeresgeschichtliches had some interesting exhibits, including both the car in which Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated by the Black Hand and which began the first World War, and the exhibition of the Ottomon Turks and their relation to Austria throughout the seiges in 1529 and 1683. The lower level of the museum focuses primarily on Austria during World War I, with a small, slightly out of place exhibition at the end regarding Austria's involvement with the UN. There were many different cases of military uniforms, war medals, guns, etc. It looked much like one would expect during any time of war in the past, only with the uniforms and weapons emblazoned with the crest or flag of the nation they belonged to. The room containing Franz Ferdinand's car was amazing however. The car stood, bullet hole and all, to the side of the room, while the military jacket through which the bullet pierced him was lying in the middle of the room, along with the couch which he bled to death on (the blood is covered). It was definitely a different feeling than one gets when seeing the relics of an American war - to see the remnants of a nation during a war into which it was largely drawn into due to Germany's invasion of Belgium, Luxembourg, and France, one has mixed emotions.

The shelled bunker domes and the worn military uniforms give one a glimpse into the weariness of war and of the Austrian morale - a culture which went from complete control under an absolutist monarchy to a war into which they did not directly choose to become involved in.

This desolate mentality and utter despair - despair which any nation at war faces, but which is intensified in a nation with a suppressed culture - is so plainly displayed throughout this exhibit. The end, the exhibit displayed cars and engines used during the war and also displayed various large machine guns and weapons.

The UN exhibition was most definitely out of place within the museum, much less placed alongside the previous WWI display. The staged scenes of UN involvement and of cars and mannequins in mid-action looked cheap and took away from both the importance of Austria's relationship with the UN and from the dramatic display of WWI.

Walking through the various sculptures of military generals and important Austrian military figures, the upstairs is much more grand than downstairs. The marble walls with large frescos of Austrian rulers and war victories, the crests of the Austro-Hungarian empire, including that of Bohemia, inlayed into the marble, and the domed roofs and tall columns all lend to the power and show which the Habsburgs desired. Even though this building was built as an arsenal for military equipment and deliberation with no intention of being a public museum, it was in a sense built exactly for that - as a museum to show wealth. Like much of the Habsburg empire, the arsenal was built for pomp and show, a physical manifestation of power, wealth, and beauty meant to dominate and overwhelm any enemy or common citizen.

After the military museum, we headed over to the Kunsthistoriches Museum for a second visit - this time to see the Egyptian, Greek, and Roman antiquities. The Egyptian art and relics were amazing - most everything was in excellent condition and was in whole units, not broken and missing pieces. Most of the artwork or engravings which we saw involved some sort of matriarchal worship, blessing the gods for food and good harvests. The altar of Sety I, an Egyptian Pharoh reigning from 1290-1279 BC and most notable for having captured the Syrian city of Kadush, was also on display amongst the tombs and stone pieces. The most interesting thing for me, however, was the various tablets of writings shown, ranging from hieroglyphs to cuneiform. It is amazing to think that those were common ways of communication, and that somewhere in the world, some one can read these tablets! Also, to see the progression of language throughout the antiquities exhibition as a whole was interesting, noting the transition from hieroglyphs to cuneiform to Greek and then to latin. Having studied the latter two and their complex grammatical systems, I can appreciate the complexity of both hieroglyphs and cuneiform, especially without an auditory basis for each language.

After the Egyptian artifacts came the Greek and Roman artifacts, showing an almost uneven transition in the layout of early and later Greek art. I found it hard to establish a pattern in the exhibit's fluidity, or lack there of, and found much of the later Greek art to have been placed near the beginning of the rooms. Also, much of the Roman art and many of the Roman sculptures were interspersed with the Greek artifacts, making for an unclear and less informative exhibition. Also, referencing back to the progression of languages, many Roman tablets were placed before the Greek tablets, and many of the Greek tablets were near the end, showing an uneven and inaccurate formulation of modern languages.

However, for as much as fluidity lacked, the relics within the rooms were quite interesting. A lot of Roman busts were on display, although there were very few of actual emperors or generals - most were of figures not particularly famous. There was also a lot of preserved jewelry and potsherds - interesting, but after having taking 'Intro to Archaeology' my first quarter at Davis, my interest was lacking. The neatest things on display were the greek figurines of the various gods (these figurines showing a progression over time of both style and perception of worship) and the tablets inscribed with Ancient Greek.

As a whole, the exhibit was interesting to see but hard to follow; individually, each culture within the exhibit was informative and relevant to an earlier Austrian history, when Vienna was in reality Vindobona.

Stephansdom

Today we had class then found a cute deli for lunch (the first and only 'deli' I have seen in the city) and then met for a tour of the inside of Stephensdom; the church itself is notoriously hard to get in to. We also were able to visit the Kaisergruft, a relatively simple church which houses the bodies of the prestigious member of the Habsburg empire, thus eternally weaving together the Habsburg's imperial authority with the will of God, uniting the crown with the altar. The bodies are buried under the Kaisergruft, the hearts in the Augustinerkirche, and the entrails are buried in St. Stephen's church. Thus, the Habsburg mortuary rituals are based upon the union between church and state, uniting the Habsburg family with the work of God and furthering their justification as absolutist monarchs.

The church was built in the mid-12th century in the Romanesque style (heavy, dark) on the outskirts of Vienna's city walls in order to lure a bishop to the town and qualify the church as a cathedral. It is built in the shape of a Roman cross, with the smaller transept and the larger beam as the church's guiding blueprint. In the 14th century (1304) the church was rebuilt in the early gothic style, the builders renovating from east to west. Renovation in those times had the notion of erasing the old and instating the new, thus the gothic replaced the Romanesque; today's idea of renovation embodies conservation. The rebuilding began in the back south tower (east) and moved towards the front. However, by the time the front was reached, it was nearing 1500, the period when the high Renaissance was in full swing (Michaelangelo's David was being sculpted, and Da Vinci's Last Supper was already finished). Thus, there was little interest in completing the front facade in the gothic style. Also, as the century moved on, the gothic style became more ornate (late gothic) - the rear was less ornate and the front tended towards gaudiness. During these many renovations, however, the church was still able to hold services, with the old Roman section being used. Thus, when the building stopped, the facade became the oldest part of the church, and the rear the second oldest. Oddly enough, the patterned roof is not as old as the church itself. In 1945 at the war's end, a fire broke out, causing the old wooden roof to cave in. Luckily, the cluster piers (the inside pillars) and the ribbing on the ceiling were strong enough to hold the walls up, and the loss of the roof was more of a visual disaster than a structural one.

Inside, the church is amazing; the vertical cluster piers bring the eye up and the stained glass windows create shades of color. As a group, we were able to go within the gated central portion of the church, getting detailed views and information about the various parts of the church.

The most interesting piece of architecture within the church is the pulpit, situated farther back within the church rather than at the front. It was built in 1500, during the period of the latest gothic style (extremely ornate). The last gothic stone mason was its sculptor, Master Anton

Pilgrim. This late gothic piece is one of the last of its kind, as the high Renaissance was gaining momentum during this same period. The pulpit itself is made from three distinct pieces of sandstone, with the four fathers of the western church (St. Gregory the Great, St. Ambrose, St. Jerome, St Augustine) sculpted on the top portion; they also represent the four humors, the four ages of man, and the four western virtues (temperance, fortitude, prudence, justice). He also included himself below the pulpit peering from a window, reflecting the changing styles of gothic into Renaissance (Renaissance artists valued the human form, often times over God, thus including themselves in their artwork). The railing of the staircase leading up to the pulpit contains circles with distinct portions, alternating (3 portions - 4 portions - 3 portions), the three (trinity) representing the heavens rolling up and the four (earth's elements, directions, seasons) representing the earth rolling down. [There are also 343 steps leading to the top of the south tower which we climbed last week]. These alternating circles show the connection between heaven and earth, with the message from God coming down in the sermon to earth.

There are also sculpted toads climbing up the banister, and a dog (fidelity) at the top, representing good conquering evil. The pulpit was later criticized, leading Master Pilgrim to declare that if it fell, he would bear it on his shoulders for the rest of eternity. Oddly enough, he painted himself on the facing wall under the organ loft, "bearing" his second masterpiece.

Another piece of architectural interest is the baptismal in the small chapel of St. Catherine in the transept. It was carved from wood in 1390 in the late gothic style, and is famous for its baptism of the children of Mozart. Outside of the chapel is a statue of the "Serving Madonna," a curved gothic statue of the Madonna and Christ child. Legend has it that it was once owned by a rich woman, but donated it to the church after it revealed to the lady her long lost diamond bracelet.

The tomb in the back of the church of Frederick III is also of interest, since in 1446 Frederick was responsible for finally bringing a bishop to Vienna. The tomb was commissioned before Frederick's death, but both Frederick and its builder died before the tomb was finished. Thus, his body was temporarily buried elsewhere while the apprentice finished the tomb (it took a total of 40 years to build). The themes on top and surrounding it also reflect good conquering evil.

The alter is positioned in front of two stained glass windows, both dating from 1340, thus considered the latest within the church. They are the original pieces of stained glass, having avoided "renovation" (replacement) and the world wars. The window's panels show the story of the Bible (although now it is not complete with most of the panels having been removed). These panels served as a way for those illiterate and too poor to own a Bible (this was most of society then) to understand the Word of God and to learn of their faith.

A painting of the stoning of St. Stephen, the first martyr, is below, painted in the baroque style. Finally, the golden altar piece to the left of the main altar has engraved on it AEIOU (Austriae est imperare orbi universo - It is for Austria to rule the whole world), the slogan of Frederick III used to justify his divine right to rule, thus connecting the throne and the altar. It was conceived within a "dynasty with a [perceived] God-given mission to rule to Christian Empire" (Beller 83).

Outside of the church stands the Haas Haus, a postmodernist building designed by Hans Hollein in 1990. It caused quite a scandal when erected, facing Stephansdom in a posture of defiance, and at times drawing more of a crowd than the church itself. This juxtaposition of architectural styles begs the question, how is Vienna remembered? What is the memory? How is St. Stephens remembered and venerated? This trend of the old facing the new is also seen with the Louvre and its new glass triangle in front. This Hass Haus seems to be moving forward from the religious past associated with St. Stephen's

and with Vienna's whole history. Does this postmodern architecture aim at capturing a Viennese culture which has been so badly tarnished in the past? Does it aim at creating a new culture, frustrated with attempting at resurrecting a sense of identity from history? Or does it indeed represent a past culture, thus the significant opposition of architecture?

The Haas Haus is not ugly; in fact it is quite beautiful. However, its proximity to St. Stephen's undermines both its own beauty and the significance of St. Stephen's. I believe that it is both attempting to capture and draw out a fleeting sense of culture from the past with its striking difference in styles, but it is also attempting at creating a more firm reality of the modern Viennese psyche giving a sense of national and personal identity to Viennese citizens and allowing them a chance to move forward out of history.

Today's German Word:

Krieg - 'war'

Klosterneuburg

G.Q. and cigarettes. The perceptions and realities of a monk's life are surprisingly disconnected from one another, the first being preferred and the latter casting off the misconceptions. Ask anybody about their notions of a monk, and it would most likely include prayer, holiness, Catholic, virtue, etc. In other words, PERFECTION. Unfortunately, monks are men and monks are not perfect. Hence, the cigarettes and G.Q.Being in a Catholic country where many of the Habsburg emperors were patrons of both the church and the monasteries, our professor scheduled a private tour for us at Klosterneuburg, a Roman Catholic monastery of Augustinian canons. Canons, unlike monks, eventually rise to become priests at local churches, in this case churches around Vienna. I arrived at the monastery with little preconceived notions (or so I thought) and was extremely intrigued to go "behind the scenes" of both a monastery and the workings of a Catholic church. Dom (a title translated into 'Father' or 'Lord') Elias met us outside of the monastery to walk us through the gates - I swear he was George Clooney's twin. We were let inside of the gardens, and the atmosphere immediately changed. Although we were already outside of Vienna in a quite town, the air became a bit more silent and still. We walked through the gardens, each flower labeled and large grassy areas for the canons to reflect and relax. These gardens are an obvious source of both beauty and pride to the monastery.

Following along the trail and up the hill, Leopoldsberg comes into view on the neighboring hillside, where Leopold III (Margrave of Austria) was visiting with his bride Agnes when her beloved veil was swept away. It wasn't until on a later hunting outing that Leopold recovered the missing veil, and on that spot is where he founded Stift Klosterneuburg. Leopold later became a saint in 1485. Before Leopold however, it was once the cite of the Romans with the Danube as the border between civilization and barbarism. As it is said, where there is the grape and the olive there is the civilized life. Including both the Romans and the Babenbergs (Leopold III), this site has at all times been inhabited.

We were led into the small gift shop (they make their own wine and sell it) located in a domed room with baroque sculptures protruding from the wall. This unfinished baroque room is both unrestored and is the oldest in Vienna, it construction having stopped in 1740 and then filled with wine barrels. Today, art students and restoration students travel to this monastery to study the room. Instead of studying the restoration of baroque art however, we were offered their own sparkling white wine and were introduced to 6 of the canons (all 6 that we met were American and spoke English). I met Dom Kilian (named after the Irish St. Kilian) whom was originally from Aptos and had friends who had gone to my own high school - what a coincident! Kilian is in his second year at the monastery (the first year is a trial year before one's vows are taken), and was preparing for his next set of vows taken at the end of August.

After the introductions, we were split into 4 groups, two going into the church and two into the museum. Here, Dom Elias and Dom Kilian told us of the monastery's history, of its saint (Leopold had actually established the modern Austrian border in the Holy Roman Empire), and of St. Augustine of Hippo, the founder of their order. St. Augustine wrote the rule which the canons follow, and was a Roman philosopher and rhetorician who converted to Christianity. He advanced the studies of both Christianity and philosophy and was a bishop and a priest. Today there are 3 forms of the rule, but each have the distinction between 'want' and 'need,' and each mandate a common prayer and a common meal.

The part of the stift in which the museum was located was commissioned by Charles VI but later halted by Maria Theresia to relocate funds elsewhere within the kingdom. In the monastery's inhabited history of 900 years, the Nazi period was the only time in which the canons were not residing within the cloisters. Their library is the largest private library in Vienna (+250,000 cataloged books) and owns the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th oldest german Bibles (the first was sold after WWII to finance repairs).

The monastery also contains the Verdun altar made by Nicholas of Verdun in 1181 during his stay at the monastery. In 1330 there was a fire within the church, causing the altar to be transposed into its current position seen now. The altar contains images of the Old Testament, of the life of Christ, and of both New and Old Testaments stories, creating a fluid three-part structure of a type and an anti-type (the foreshadowing of a deeper reality to be fulfilled). Images combine Greek, Byzantine, and Roman styles. On top of the altar are the relics of St. Leopold, encased within an embossed gold box.

After being taken through the museum and into the room containing the verdun altar, we were allowed into the main church and up near the high altar, into the sacristy, and then into vespers (evening prayers) in which we were allowed to sit in on and participate in. Thank goodness for the perks of being a student!!

After vespers, our group and the canons went to the nearest heuriger, a family run wine tavern which is open for 6 months out of the year and which serves the current year's wine. At our table, Kilian was answering our questions (we had many) and it was definitely interesting to get a viewpoint from the point of an American living as a Viennese for the rest of his life in a monastery. Kilian was describing to us the notion of the Viennese as being a lost people, a people without a distinct culture or definition. His argument was persuading as well:

Austrians have always been under the rule of either the Babenbergs or the Habsburgs, citizens under an absolutist monarchy. Thus, individualism and culture has always been predetermined and carved out to fit the likes and preferences of the current ruling emperor. World War I began and further erased the Austrians' sense of culture. Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated by the Black Hand, prompting Germany to invade Belgium, Luxembourg, and France. Austria was subsequently drawn into the war with considerable resentment, feeling as if the war was never their choice (especially with Franz Josef's considerable dislike for the late Franz Ferdinand) but a war into which they had been coerced. At the war's end, Austria emerged broken and wary of trusting other nations, torn apart and on edge from a war they fought for Germany and in which they gained little. When Hitler rose to power, there was no hindsight, and like many successful acts of politics, his was a performance. Thus, Austrians were swept up in the fervor and supported Hitler. Then Hitler annexed Austria into Germany, further undermining any aspect of culture that had been formed by Austrian citizens. When the war ended, Russia continued to occupy Austria for 10 years, inhibiting any cultural growth. At the end of the occupation, Austrians were left with no structural government, no economic support, and a ravaged sense of self. Also, they were left knowing that both the concern given to them stemmed from pity and that most of the world viewed them as active participants in Hitler's agenda rather than victims of his cruelty. Hence, even today there is a sense of loss when it comes to Viennese culture - even the architecture reflects the culture of the ruler rather than that of the citizens and is in itself a mix of different styles - with citizens desperately trying to piece together a culture that was never truly theirs.

After this overview of Viennese culture, Kilian explained that the Viennese are traditionalists (they hate change) yet they avoid conservatism like the plague. He was describing to us the traditional behaviors expected of every Austrian citizen, even to this day - lists of protocols and rules dictating manners and respect. Yet for as rigid as they are in their traditions, they are highly anti-conservative. Most conservatives are viewed as religiously affiliated, and are visibly distinct (the high collar marking conservatism). There is a movement away from the right (so much of the loss of self has been ingrained in religious culture and history), in an effort to ignore rather than confront the religious affiliations and conflicts of Austria's past. Yet, Kilian said that there is also a movement away from the traditional protocols with people choosing out of the manners guide and being looked down upon, unable to reenter traditionalism at a later time. So in the sense that conservatism is ignored and shoved under the rug, the liberalism of many of the youth which embody the repulsion of both conservatism and tradition is frowned upon. And yet the traditionalism of Austria is somehow caught in the midst.

It seems that the Austrians' attempt at maintaing their rigid traditionalism is a desperate attempt at cultivating a long lost culture they were never able to nurture, one disconnected with religion yet not outright rejecting the social protocols.

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.