Well I decided I couldn’t get enough of the Habsburg’s family yesterday so I spent a good chunk of the morning and early afternoon lounging at their summer palace (well laa-tee-da!). Seriously, this place was over the top. If you’ve been to Versailles in Paris it’s almost as glorious as that.
In 1569, Holy Roman Emperor Maximillian II purchased a large floodplain of the Wien River beneath a hill, situated between Meidling and Hietzing, where a former owner, in 1548, had erected a mansion called Katterburg. The emperor ordered the area to be fenced and put game there in order for it to serve as the court’s recreational hunting ground.
The name Schonbrunn (meaning “beautiful spring”) has its roots in an artesian well from which water was consumed by the court.
The Schönbrunn Palace in its present form was built and remodelled during the 1740–50s during the reign of empress Maria Theresa who received the estate as a wedding gift.
Franz Josef (Maria Theresa’s son) was the longest-reigning emperor of Austria, was born at Schönbrunn and spent a great deal of his life there. He died there, at the age of 86, on November 21, 1916. Following the downfall of the Habsburg monarchy in November 1918, the palace became the property of the newly founded Austrian Republic and was preserved as a museum.When I was done pretending to be on “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous”, I headed back into town to get even more Habsburg’s energy. I toured what’s called the Kunsthistorisches Museum which houses the families collection of precious artwork. At their peak of power in the 1500’s, the Habsburgs ruled Austria, Germany, northern Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain so there was a wide variety of art from all those places and beyond. It included artists such as Titian, Raphael, Caravaggio, Peter Paul Ruebens and Rembrandt. Very impressive. Then at the end of the day I went and saw this really old black and white movie in this old theater. Funny story… just the other day I read in the Rick Steves book about this movie. Then yesterday after my email, Peter and Waltraut (who I visited with in Munich), emailed me about the movie saying how good it was and that there was a scene from that Ferris wheel with the big red boxcars from my pics, in it. It just so happened that the only night they were screening it was tonight so I went. It’s called “The Third Man” and was released in 1949 and voted one of the greatest films of all time by the British Film Institute. Is was really good and suspenseful. It takes place in post World War II Vienna and stars Orson Welles. It was cool to see the scene from the Ferris wheel where I was at yesterday. If you can find it on YouTube or Netflix check it out.
That’s all for today. I’ll leave you with lots of beautiful pictures from Schonbrunn Palace (well except for the one with me! Lol). Hope everyone is having a great Tuesday!
Jeff
PS: In the last pic with the panoramic view of the Palace with Vienna in the background, zoom in on the right to check out the Tibetan monk and two guys doing some kind of ritual. Also, you can see the steeple of St Stephen’s Cathedral in the background (I had to get a church pic in! Lol)
The Wandering Italian 