We can move through the Michaeletor (left and
below) into the city centre. Instead we return
via the Hofburg courtyards to the Mozart and Goethe
Memorials.
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Johann Wolfgang Goethe was born in August 28,
1749 and died in March 22, 1832. A memorial
statue now stands in the Burggarten. The original
statue of Goethe sitting on a bench was unveiled
on the 15th of May 1932 on the occasion of the
100th anniversary of his death. Willy Russ of
Krásno was its creator. The statue was
destroyed during the Second World War. After the
war, a stone bearing a plaque, stating that Goethe's
statue had been standing there, was installed
on the original pedestal. Today's statue of
Goethe (below), by the local sculptor
Vítezslav Eibl, was placed on the original
pedestal and unveiled in 1993.
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Mozart memorial statue in the Burggarten (left
and below)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
full baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus
Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart !!) lived from
27 January 1756 to 5 December 1791 and was
a prolific and influential composer of the classical era.
He composed over six hundred works, many acknowledged
as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber,
piano, operatic, and choral music. He is among
the most popular of classical composers.
Mozart died at Rauhensteingasse 8
in the heart of the city. The house where he
died has long since vanished, and today the site
is occupied by Kaufhaus Steffl, one of Vienna’s
most well known department stores. It was in
this house that he started to compose the
famous unfinished Requiem.
The
statue is by Viktor Tilgner and dates from 1896.
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VIENNA PART 5
Statepark and Opera House
During the demolition of the city walls and the
creation of the Vienna Ringstraße in its
place, the mayor at that time, Andreas Zelinka,
promoted the project of creating a public park on
the territory.
The park was designed in the style of English
gardens by the landscape painter Josef Selleny,
while the plans were made by the city gardener
Rudolf Siebeck. On 21 August 1862 the park was
opened, becoming the first public park in
Vienna. |
Monument to the composer Anton Bruckner
(right).
Anton Bruckner (4 September 1824 to 11 October
1896) was an Austrian composer known for his
symphonies, masses, and motets. His symphonies
are often considered emblematic of the final
stage of Austro-German Romanticism because of
their rich harmonic language, complex polyphony,
and considerable length.
Bruckner died in Vienna in 1896. He is buried in
the crypt of St. Florian monastery church.
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The gilded bronze monument of Johann
Strauß II, is one of the most known and
most frequently photographed monuments in Vienna.
It was unveiled to the public on 26 June 1921 and
is framed by a marble relief made by Edmund
Hellmer. The gilding was removed in 1935 and laid
on again only in 1991.
There are several other monuments, e.g. of Franz
Schubert, Franz Lehár, Robert Stolz and
Hans Makart; the Stadtpark is the park with the
largest number of monuments and sculptures in
Vienna.
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The Karolinenbrücke (Caroline Bridge), which
was built over the Wienflußin 1857 (since
1918 it is known as Stadtparkbrücke - City
Park Bridge) connects the childrens' park to the
Stadtpark proper on the northern side of the
river.
After the regulation of the Wienfluss, the whole
river area was rebuilt by Friedrich Ohmann and
Josef Hackhofer between 1903 and 1907, with a
gate through which the river flows plus several
pavilions and a restaurant.
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The Opera House was the first major building on
the Wiener Ringstraße commissioned by the
controversial Viennese "city expansion fund".
Work commenced on the building in 1861 and was
completed in 1869, following plans drawn up by
architects August Sicard von Sicardsburg and
Eduard van der Nüll, who lived together in
the 6. Bezirk. It was built in the
Neo-Renaissance style.
The building was, however, not very popular with
the public. On the one hand, it did not seem as
grand as the Heinrichshof, a private residence
which was destroyed in World War II (and replaced
in 1955 by the Opernringhof). Moreover because
the level of Ringstraße was raised by a
metre in front of the opera house after its
construction had begun, the latter was likened to
"a sunken box" and, in analogy to the military
disaster of 1866 (the Battle of
Königgrätz), was deprecatingly referred
to as "the Königgrätz of
architecture".
Van der Nüll committed suicide, and barely
ten weeks later Sicardsburg suffered a fatal
heart attack so neither architect saw the
completion of the building.
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Towards the end of World War II, on March 12,
1945, the opera was set alight by an American
bombardment, which was intended for the
Raffinerie in Floridsdorf. The front section,
which had been walled off as a precaution,
remained intact including the foyer, with
frescoes by Moritz von Schwind, the main
stairways, the vestibule and the tea room. The
auditorium and stage were, however, destroyed by
flames as well as almost the entire décor
and props for more than 120 operas with around
150,000 costumes.The opening premiere was Don
Giovanni, by Mozart, on May 25, 1869.
Lengthy discussions took place about whether the
opera house should be restored to its original
state on its original site, or whether it should
be completely demolished and rebuilt, either on
the same location or on a different site.
Eventually the decision was made to rebuild the
opera house as it had been, and the main
restoration experts involved were Ernst Kolb
(1948 to 1952) and Udo Illig (1953 to 1956).
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And so ends our tour of Vienna.... but it's more
than a tramride back to Weyrigg !
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