The Spanish Riding School

Friday, April 9, 2010 (Part 2):

We started our time at the Hofburg Palace at the Spanish Riding School, which is the 450+ year-old home of the world famous Lipizzaner Stallions. They are beautiful, all white horses (all male) who are trained to perform intricate steps and jumps in formation. They are born and bred for this purpose at a farm several hundred miles from Vienna. The maneuvers they perform were originally highly valued as effective on the battlefields of Europe.

We began the morning by observing a one-hour training session. The practice session was rather tame, but were we able to see a wide variety of horses at various stages of their training process, and that was interesting. All of this took place in a beautiful indoor riding arena built specifically for these horses 450 years ago. It has to be the most beautiful show ring in the world -- with its great columns and three huge crystal chandeliers. Unfortunately, as was the case almost everywhere we went in Vienna, no photos were allowed!

We returned to the Spanish Riding School later in the day for a guided tour of the stables and arena. Through this tour we learned about the breeding and training of the horses. We also learned how riders are chosen and trained as well. These horses are incredibly well kept, but I do not envy their lives. They spend their days going from their stalls to the show ring and back again. They rarely are allowed to run free - but for a couple months in the summer when they are sent to another facility for that purpose in the country.

Everything about the Spanish Riding School is highly structured and highly organized. It is immaculately well kept, and the people who were there are totally dedicated. The riders are chosen through a rigorous process, and if they survive the years-long training process, they are riders of these stallions for life. Each rider typically has 6-8 horses, at various stages of training, under their charge. Riders are matched with horses for the life of the horse.

Austrian National Library

Friday, April 9, 2010 (Part 1):

We spent much of our day today at the Hofburg Palace. It's a huge complex, and on the second floor of one wing is the Prunksaal or Hall of Honor. The Prunksaal is part of the Austrian National Library. It is a beautiful, vaulted room full of old, rare books. In fact, remember Prince Eugene and his Belvedere palaces? One of the things he collected was books and, at his death, his book collection was purchased by the King and can now be found in the Prunksaal.

The walls in this room are about 30 feet tall and are filled, floor to ceiling, with bookcases and tall ladders used to reach the books stored on the upper most shelves. This room also has some beautiful murals on the

ceilings, and a collection of four wonderful globes. The globes are several hundred years old and stand about 5 feet tall. Two of them are globes of the earth. The other two are celestial globes - depicting the constellations.

Stephensdom Marks the Spot

Thursday, April 8, 2010 (Part 8):

Vienna is a nicely laid out city. The central inner city is encircled by a series of roads that create an almost perfect circle, and almost dead center in the middle of the circle is Stephensdom, the largest and oldest church in Vienna.

Unfortunately, we arrived at Stephensdom late in the day (it was after 5:00pm), and our access to the inside of the church was severely limited. We were able to enter the church, but we were confined to the very back of the sanctuary. And so we had to be satisfied with peering into the sanctuary through several gates. We talked about coming back when we could tour the interior, but we never did. There was just too much else to do!

The exterior of this church was undergoing some serious cleaning and refurbishing. And like many monuments under repair in Europe, I was pleased to see that the scaffolding erected to support the construction

work had been draped with canvases that reflected the image of the facade beneath. Perhaps you can see some of that in the picture above. Both the base of the main spire, and the middle section of the front spire are covered with scaffolding and canvas that mimics the appearance of the church.

One of the most notable features of Stephensdom is its tiled roof. It's very colorful; surprisingly so. What I found interesting about it was that it had a very modern look, and yet this is the way it was originally designed and constructed hundreds of years ago.

A Musical Interlude

Thursday, April 8, 2010 (Part 7):

Our evenings in Vienna (two of them) were filled with music.

Mozart was not born in Vienna, but he spent much of his life here. He performed his first concern for the Queen, Maria Teresa, when he was just 6 years old. We saw the room at the Schoenbrunn Palace where his debut royal concert took place. Mozart also spent most of his adult life in Vienna, living in several different places, depending upon the strength of his finances at any given time.

There is a house near Stephensdom that is called "Mozart's House." He lived here only briefly (during one of his more "flush" periods), but one of the rooms here is now used for performances of his works. On Thursday evening, we saw the Mozart Ensemble (a string quartet: 1st violin, 2nd violin, viola and cello) perform at the Mozart House. The room where they played was rather small, but the acoustics were very good. The walls were highly decorated with hand painted plants and cherubs. The audience was small too -- maybe 50 people. It was very intimate, just the way Mozart's work was originally performed. And Katherine and I were in the front row - directly in front of the first violinist. Obviously, it paid off to have purchased our tickets well in advance! We could literally reach out and touch the first violinist. Of course, we resisted the temptation, but Katherine commented that she felt several times as if we were going to be jabbed with the bow!

The performance was excellent - led by the first violinist, a woman. She was extremely energetic in her playing. She moved a great deal, twisting her body, bowing her head. She was really into her music! The program consisted of four pieces -- beginning and ending with Mozart - and with a Dvorak and Haydn piece in between. They also played an encore by Dvorak. It was a wonderful concert.

The Upper Belvedere

Thursday, April 8, 2010 (Part 6):

The Upper Belvedere is the grand cousin to the Lower Belvedere. Everything here is bigger and grander. There are many rooms that bear names similar to rooms in the Lower Belvedere, but these rooms are so much showier. For example, there is another marble room here, but it's maybe four time as large as the similarly named room in the Lower Belvedere. This room was used for grand parties and balls.

Today, the Upper Belvedere is a museum, and it is most well known for its collection of Gustav Klimt paintings, including the most famous Klimt paiting of all -- "The Kiss." We toured several of the galleries, but our primary goal was to see the Klimt collection, which did not disappoint. And the audio guide provided wonderful information about the progression of the artist's work, as well as his subjects -- all women! Not surprisingly, perhaps, we learned that he was something of a womanizer.

The Lower Belvedere

Thursday, April 8, 2010 (Part 5):

We learned during our tour of the Belvedere that Prince Eugene was not considered a physically attractive man (described as short, pock marked and humpbacked) but he was obviously quite intelligent. He never married, and when he died, his considerable fortune, properties and collections fell to a niece. Sadly, she did appreciate what she had inherited beyond its monetary value. She quickly proceeded to sell everything. As a result, Prince Eugene's many wonderful collections, and most notably his art collection, were split up and scattered all over Europe.

We were very fortunate when we visited the Belvedere because there was a temporary exhibit on display that was about the life of Prince Eugene. As part of this exhibit, many pieces of art and other collectibles had been brought back together. Also on display were a lot of maps and military memorabilia from his campaigns, as well as many portraits of Prince Eugene, his royal patrons and his friends.

Most of all, we saw the rooms he had occupied in the Lower

Belvedere, and we learned how each room was used. Many of the rooms have been preserved just as originally decorated. Additionally, adjacent to the Lower Belvedere was

an "orangerie" -- a sort of green house with movable walls and ceiling. In bad weather months, the walls and ceiling were full extended to protect the plants (including orange trees). In good weather months they were, of course, removed. It must have been a very interesting site.

Other rooms in the Lower Belvedere were (1) the Marble

Room which, of course, is made entirely of marble, (2) the Golden Room, which is all gilt and mirrors and is where one of the wedding receptions for Marie Antoinette was held, (3) the Hall of Grotesques, which had fantastically decorated (hand painted) walls with a jumble of outdoor scenes and characters, and (4) the Georg Raphael Donner room, where a set of black marble fountain statues dominate the room.

After touring the Lower Belvedere, we had lunch at a cafe at the foot of the expanse of gardens that lie between the two palaces. It was a beautiful, sunny day -- the warmest day of the week, and we enjoyed our lunch in the sun. Then we strolled through the gardens to the Upper Belvedere.

The Belvedere Palace of Prince Eugene

Thursday, April 8, 2010 (Part 4):

We saw three palace complexes while in Vienna. they were (i) the Belvedere, (ii) the Hofburg, and (iii) Schoenbrun. The "smallest" of the three, and my personal favorite, was the Belvedere.

The Belvedere palace complex is comprised of two huge buildings, the Lower Belvedere (the smaller of the two) and the Upper Belvedere. In between, they are connected by a large series of ornamental gardens, walkways and fountains.

The Belvedere was built around 1700 by Prince Eugene, who acquired his title not by birth but as a result of an illustrious military career. He was born into a lowly (poor) family in France, where he began his military career. He offered his services to the French king, but was spurned. And so he traveled east to the Hapsburg court in Vienna and presented himself to King Leopold VI. The Hapsburgs were facing serious threats from the Turks, and Leopold brought Eugene into his military circle. From the very first, Eugene proved himself to be a masterful commander on the battlefield, and he orchestrated a series of significant battle victories, including the successful defense of Vienna from the invading Turks.

In addition to being awarded many military promotions, Eugene was bestowed with titles and property and purses. He became one of the wealthiest men of his day. And so, he built himself a palace - The Belvedere - where he could entertain and indulge his interests as a collector. And he was a collector of many different things. Among many other things, he collected art. He also collected animals and maintained a menagerie at a nearby hunting lodge that he acquired and refurbished.