The two days following our Kunsthistorischemuseum visit offered fine weather, with temps in or approaching the 70s. Thus we resolved on two days of walks exploring some of Vienna's Jugendstil architecture. Jugendstil (young style) is the German version of Art Nouveau, also known here as Secessionist, although all these art and architecture terms are squishy, nationality-dependent, and imprecise. Art Nouveau, Liberty, Modernisme, stil Horta, stil Sapin, stil Mucha, Tiffany Style, depending on where you are and what you're looking at (a building, a painting, decorative arts, etc.). Hey, if you're just interested in beauty, who cares about precision? Besides we also like some of the Neo-classical stuff that the Art Nouveau types were rebelling (seceding) against, particularly if it has enough caryatids, atlantines, etc.
The problem with such targeted, self-directed walks such as we planned is that, in a city like Vienna (or Prague, or Paris, etc.), you're constantly being distracted by other sights, monuments, restaurants, cafes, shops, cathedrals, museums, art and architecture not on the prescribed list. So you go out for pix of six buildings and a clock and come back with 300 pix, most of which are not what you planned on seeing. Serendipity is the greatest, but it really complicates the narrative thread. So to speak. Anyhow, below are the Jugendstil pix from our first day's architecture walk. I'll work the other 250 into a miscellaneous Vienna scenes post. Or two.
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| Ever wondered what a Jugendstil observatory would look like? Of course you have! Here is Max Fabiani's Urania building, 1910, originally to be the Royal Observatory |
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| Fabiani was one of (Otto) Wagner's associates; the place is now the city planetarium and was mobbed with students so we did not venture inside; we rated it a meh anyway |
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| Otto Wagner is the big name in Jugendstil architecture and this is among his putative masterpieces, the Postparkasse building |
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| Acquired by one of the universities and now undergoing some renovation |
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| This puppy covers an entire large city block, is five or six stories high, and is "decorated" with 87 gazillion little aluminum rivet- like things...the principal process for making aluminum (the Bayer process) was invented by an Austrian chemist... |
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| Entry |
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| In the main hall; the NBA-class R2D2 devices adorn the whole place |
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| Thus |
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| It's now being used as a sort of student center...with mirror-top tables throughout |
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| Closer-up of the overgrown R2D2 |
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| Industrial grade pillars also adorn the main hall; note the glass block flooring...which directs light to the hall below |
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| "White, white, white is the color of our carpet" |
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| The place also houses the Otto Wagner Museum, which I ventured into briefly |
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| I'm not seeing the beauty here |
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| Moving right along, another beauty that is not, alas, on our list |
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| What is on our list, however, is the Anker (Anchor) Clock, so surpassingly interesting and great as to merit its own post |
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| Another beauty |
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By now something had attracted us down one of upscale pedestrianized boulevards, the Graben,* and then we got caught up in the cathedral's tractor beam... |
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| Which was definitely not on the Jugendstil list but ultimately OK since I wanted a picture of the pretty part of the roof (over the chancel) |
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| Moving right along... |
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| To the Angel Pharmacy |
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Lastly (omitting the Clock, a fabulous Billa Corso supermarket, a leisurely stroll down the Graben, the Julius Meinl gourmet supermarket, Demel, and assorted other non-Jugendstil sites), the Artaria House, by (again) Max Fabiani, whose other claim to fame was in 1912 briefly employing a young drawing assistant named Adolf Schicklgruber (aka Hitler) |
*not Smashen und Graben: all the upscale stores, and there are many, have armed guards stationed at the door.
