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Heidelberg - Heiliggeistkirche und Marktplatz
The Church of the Holy Spirit (German: Heiliggeistkirche) is the largest church in Heidelberg, Germany. The church, located in the marketplace in the old town center, was constructed between 1398 and 1515 in the Romanesque and Gothic styles. It annually receives 1–3 million guests a year, making it among the most visited churches in Germany.
The church was planned as the burial place of the Electors of the Palatinate and as a representative church of the Palatinate royal seat. In the Palatine War of Succession, the princely graves of the Electors were destroyed; today only the grave of the founder of the church, Elector Ruprecht III, remains. The church was also the location of the founding of the Heidelberg University and was the original repository of the Bibliotheca Palatina.
The congregation was originally Roman Catholic, but the church has changed denominations more than ten times through its history. Intermittently, over a 300 year period, the nave and the choir of the church were separated by a wall, allowing both Catholics and Protestants to practice in the church at the same time. The wall was ultimately removed in 1936, and the congregation is now solely Protestant. Today, it is a parish church within the Evangelical Church of Heidelberg and is part of the Evangelical Church in Germany.
History
A manuscript from 1239 references a Romanesque chapel in the center of Heidelberg named “Zum Heilien Geist” (English: to the Holy Ghost). A Gothic, asisleless church was constructed on that site around 1300 and subsequently referred to as the Chapel of the Holy Spirit (Heiliggeistkapelle). King Rupert commissioned a new church building in 1398, which replaced the chapel and became the current Church of the Holy Spirit. The current church is the third sacral building on the site.
Congregations
Between the 16th and 20th centuries, the church changed confessions over ten times, between Lutheranism, Calvinism, Catholicism, and Old Catholicism. Sermons had been delivered in German at various points before the Reformation at the Church of the Holy Spirit, but Protestantism was not quickly adopted in Heidelberg. The first Protestant service was conducted at the Church of the Holy Spirit in 1546. Elector Otto Henry converted the region in 1557, and the church was officially designated as a Lutheran parish church. Otto Henry's successor, Friedrich III, converted the church to Calvinism and commissioned the Heidelberg Catechism.
In 1706, a succession crisis resulted in the church being divided in half in order to accommodate both Catholics and Protestants simultaneously, so that both congregations could hold their services without any mutual disturbance. The church was divided by a wall which separated the nave and the chancel, creating a second altar in the center of the church. In 1719, Elector Karl III Philipp ordered soldiers to occupy the church and tear down the wall in order to restore it to a purely Catholic place of worship. Political pressure from other states and the Holy Roman Empire forced him to re-erect the wall shortly thereafter. The wall was again removed in 1886, but was rebuilt once more as a result of the Kulturkampf and pressure from the Vatican. It was ultimately removed on 24 June 1936. The church has been solely Protestant since.
Bibliotheca Palatina
The Bibliotheca Palatina was founded and originally kept in the gallery of the Church of the Holy Spirit, where good light for reading was available. It contained several collections, including the libraries of Heidelberg University, Heidelberg Castle, and several monasteries.
During the Thirty Years War, this collection of manuscripts and early printed books were taken as loot and presented to the Pope by the Count of Tilly, who commanded the Catholic League’s forces at Heidelberg in 1622. Reportedly 54 oxcarts filled with crates of books were taken to Rome from the Church of the Holy Spirit. They now form the Bibliotheca Palatina section of the Vatican Library. As a result of the Congress of Vienna, 847 of the german manuscripts from this collection were returned to the University of Heidelberg in 1816. For the University's 600th anniversary, a further collection of 588 of the Bibliotheca's documents were temporarily exhibited at the Church. Much of the exhibition contained documents detailing the workings of the former library itself: from the former library's binding techniques to records on the library's removal in 1623.
Architecture
Construction
Documents name Arnold Rype, a former mayor of Heidelberg, as the church's "master builder". At the time, the term "master builder" referred not to the architect but the financial initiator. The only known architects are Hans Marx, who worked on the church until 1426, as well as Jorg, who was responsible until 1439. Both men probably supervised work on the nave. Under the reign of Prince-elector Frederick I, a noted specialist in the construction of church towers, Niclaus Eseler, came from Mainz to Heidelberg and was likely responsible for the execution of the primary work on the church's spire, though the steeple was completed by Lorenz Lechler.
Construction began in 1398 when the cornerstone was laid. The choir was completed and consecrated in 1411, and the nave finished in 1441. The construction of the steeple was started in the same year, but works were interrupted until 1508, and the tower was finished in 1544.
Restoration
During the Palatinate War of Succession, the church was raided by French forces in 1693 and significantly damaged by a fire. The fire destroyed the church tower, which was rebuilt in 1709 in a baroque style. A viewing platform inside the main spire is accessible to the public via a narrow staircase with a total of 208 steps. The platform is located 38 meters above ground level.
The 1693 fire damaged the roof, and resulting in decades of water damage in much of the building. Late 18th century restoration efforts greatly altered the original design of the building. Crumbling, octagonal sandstone pillars were sanded-down to round columns. Medieval frescoes were either plastered over, or reinterpreted in baroque style.
One of the vaults of the nave is decorated with a fresco, created around 1440. Each of the vault's eight panels are decorated with an angel playing a unique instrument. The fresco was restored in 1950 by Harry MacLean, who added a bassoon to one angel, which was not original to the piece. A Holy Ghost hole sits between the eight angels.
Stained glass
Heiliggeistkirch's original medieval windows were destroyed by the fire of 1693. None of the original windows were preserved and no record or attestation to what they looked like exists. To replace the damaged windows, emergency glazing was introduced in the 19th century, principally in the choir and along the south aisle of the nave. Matching windows, installed on the north aisle, were subsequently destroyed in 1945 during the Second World War. The poor condition of the 19th century glazing became a pressing issue in the mid 20th century, resulting in a historically significant series of unrealised attempts to commission the design of a unified programme of stained glass windows from contemporary artists.
In the mid 1970s, the regional church board voted to replace the 19th century additions, as part of a broader restoration and repair of the interior. As a result, several significant efforts were made in the 1970s and 1990s to reinstall stained glass into these windows through a programme of artworks by a single artist. Initially, the German artist Johannes Schreiter was commissioned in 1977 to undertake the project and design a total of twenty-two pieces, but negative response to his designs and the resulting “Heidelbergerfensterstreit” (Heidelberg Window Controversy) meant that only one complete work, the Physics Window, was installed in the church. Subsequently, the British artist Brian Clarke was asked to submit a proposal for the remaining windows. His resulting designs drew on the history of the site's location as the repository of the Biblioteca Palatina and its link to the development of Calvinism through the 1563 Heidelberg Catechism. Ultimately, of Clarke's designs were implemented.
During the late 1990s, Hella Santarossa won a subsequent 1997 competition for a series of five windows whose core element is treated, broken coloured glass. Santarossa is a member of the Derix family, one of the major stained glass studios in Germany. Her series of five windows were installed in the north nave.
The "Heidelberger Fensterstreit"
The most famed and controversial stained glass works commissioned for the church are those of Johannes Schreiter, commissioned in 1977 to design twenty-two stained glass windows. At the time, this was to be the largest stained glass commission to have been granted to a single artist. The resulting avant-garde designs, which incorporated references from science, medicine, philosophy, and the analogue technologies of the day, became the subject of a cultural and theological dispute known as the "Heidelberg Controversy" (German: Heidelbergerfensterstreit Fensterstreit). This dispute is cited as "the most intense controversy on record involving twentieth century stained glass".
Schreiter's designs had previously been debated and tested within a focus group including theologians, art critics, and church attendees. They were then presented to the public in 1984 when the first window was installed on the south isle. This window is known as the "Physikfenster" (English: "Physics Window"). It's critical theme immediately became controversial. Critics called the Physics Window overly conceptual, elitist, and secularly dejected. When sketches of Schreiter's following pieces were released, local parishioners were reportedly disenfranchised by their themes. Protests, parish votes, and petitions ultimately prevented their installation. Nine years after Schreiter was commissioned, the project was officially terminated on June 23rd 1986. Schreiter had originally been commissioned to create ten separate pieces for the nave; the ensuing controversy caused the remaining nine to be abandoned. The Physics Window remains the only work of Schreiter's installed in the church, though other windows from the series have since been purchased and displayed by independent organisations, including other churches and hospital clinics.
The Physics Window is 458 cm tall and 125 cm wide. The majority of the piece is red, representing the Holy Spirit; a white arrow at the top represents the Holy Spirit descending to earth. Only two points on the piece are in bright blue: one highlighting the Einstein's theory of relativity, E=mc², and the other states the date the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, 6 August 1945. Written above both of these in black, gothic script, is a passage from the Second Epistle of Peter (2 Peter 3:10) combined with a passage from Isaiah (Isaiah 54:10). The first passage references an apocalyptic end to the earth, in which everything created by man is destroyed by fire. This theme is reflected in Schreiter's work by an effect in the glass that resembles burnt paper near the date of the Hiroshima tragedy. By contrast, the second passage offers hope, implying that God will remain merciful despite man's mistakes.
Notable burials
Originally, the Church of the Holy Spirit contained the tombs of the Palatinate electors, which were later destroyed by fire during the War of the Palatine Succession. The only remaining tomb is that of Prince-Elector Rupert III, the founder of the church, which is still preserved.
Dorothea of Denmark, Electress Palatine (1520–1580)
Eberhard II, Duke of Württemberg (1447–1504)
Elisabeth of Nuremberg (1358–1411)
Louis III, Elector Palatine (1378–1436)
Louis IV, Elector Palatine (1424–1449)
Rupert, King of the Romans (1352–1410)
Wolfgang of the Palatinate (1494–1558)
(Wikipedia)
Die Heiliggeistkirche ist die größte und bedeutendste Kirche in Heidelberg. Mit der Apsis zum Marktplatz steht sie mitten in der Heidelberger Altstadt. Ihr Turm beherrscht und prägt – mit dem achteckigen Glockenturm des Schlosses – das Stadtbild. Die aus rotem Neckartäler Sandstein gebaute gotische Hallenkirche mit barockem Dach und barocker Turmhaube gilt als „völlig singuläres Bauwerk von hohem künstlerischen Rang“.
Die Kirche wurde von 1398 bis 1515 errichtet und war als Grablege der Kurfürsten von der Pfalz und als repräsentatives Gotteshaus der kurpfälzischen Residenzstadt geplant. Bei schweren Zerstörungen im Pfälzischen Erbfolgekrieg wurden die Fürstengräber verwüstet, sodass sich heute nur noch das Grab des Erbauers des Chors der Kirche, Kurfürst Ruprecht III., der als Ruprecht I. deutscher König war, in der Kirche befindet. Bekannt ist die Heiliggeistkirche auch als einstiger Standort der Bibliotheca Palatina sowie wegen ihrer wechselvollen, eng mit der Geschichte Heidelbergs verknüpften, konfessionellen Geschichte. Von 1706 bis 1936 war die Kirche durch eine Scheidemauer in zwei Teile geteilt. Das Langhaus war protestantisch, der Chor katholisch. Seit 1936 gehört die gesamte Kirche zur Evangelischen Landeskirche in Baden.
Kirchenrechtliche Stellung
Die Heiliggeistkirche war ursprünglich eine von der Peterskirche kirchenrechtlich abhängige Kapelle. Kurfürst Ruprecht III. erreichte im Zusammenhang mit der Gründung der Universität Heidelberg bei Papst Bonifatius IX., dass die Heiliggeistkirche aus der Abhängigkeit von der Peterskirche gelöst und zur Stiftskirche erhoben wurde. Verschiedene Pfründen, die ursprünglich an anderen Kirchen bestanden, wurden auf die Heiliggeistkirche übertragen und dienten der Finanzierung der jungen Universität, deren Professoren zugleich Stiftsherren an der Heiliggeistkirche waren. Die Einrichtung des Kollegiatstifts war 1413 abgeschlossen. Gleichzeitig fungierte die Heiliggeistkirche als Pfarrkirche für die Altstadt, während die Peterskirche die Funktion einer Pfarrkirche für die Neustadt (die nach der Stadterweiterung von 1392 hinzugekommenen Teile der heutigen Altstadt) übernahm. Kurfürst Ottheinrich löste nach seinem Amtsantritt das Stift auf und übertrug die Pfründen an die Universität, die Heiliggeistkirche wurde zur evangelischen Pfarrkirche.
Die Heiliggeistkirche blieb der Universität seit ihrer Gründung, die mit einer Messe in der (damaligen) Heiliggeistkirche gefeiert wurde, verbunden. In der Folgezeit blieb die Heiliggeistkirche Universitätskirche, ihre Tür diente als Schwarzes Brett der Universität. Im 19. Jahrhundert übernahm die Peterskirche die Funktion als Universitätskirche.
Baugeschichte
Eine dem Heiligen Geist geweihte Kirche am Heidelberger Marktplatz wurde im Jahr 1239 in einer Urkunde des Klosters Schönau zum ersten Mal erwähnt. Weitere Erwähnungen folgen erst in den Jahren 1353 und 1358.
Bei der im Jahr 1239 erwähnten Kirche handelte es sich um eine spätromanische Basilika, von welcher im Jahr 1936 eine Apsis ausgegraben wurde. Um 1300, vielleicht aber auch schon zwischen 1278 und 1288, wurde sie zu einer dreischiffigen spätromanischen oder bereits gotischen Kirche umgestaltet. Diese Kirche war halb so lang wie die jetzige und ist durch Ausgrabungen in den Jahren 1886 sowie 1936 bis 1942 gut dokumentiert. Als Grund für diesen Umbau wird ein Brand vermutet, dem ein Hochwasser vorausgegangen sein soll.
Kurfürst Ruprecht III. ließ anstelle des bisherigen Chores ab 1398 einen hohen und lichten Hallenchor erbauen. Da Heidelberg unter der Herrschaft Ruprechts I. die alten Zentren Bacharach, Alzey und Neustadt verdrängt hatte und alleinige kurpfälzische Residenzstadt geworden war, sollte es, seinem Rang entsprechend, eine große und repräsentative Kirche erhalten, die auch als künftige Grablege der Pfälzer Kurfürsten bestimmt war. Diese repräsentative Funktion erhielt besonderes Gewicht, als Ruprecht III. zum deutschen König gewählt wurde und der Chor der Heiliggeistkirche dereinst das Grab eines Königs aufnehmen sollte. Der Chor wurde vermutlich schon 1410 zur Beisetzung von Ruprecht III. vollendet.
Ursprünglich war der Bau eines neuen Langhauses nicht vorgesehen. Die Kombination eines hohen, stattlichen Chores mit einem älteren und kleineren Langhaus findet man heute noch bei der Sebaldus-Kirche in Nürnberg. Unter Kurfürst Ludwig III. wurde dann doch mit dem Bau eines neuen Langhauses begonnen, das 1441 fertiggestellt und genauso hoch wie der Chor war. Chor und Langhaus bilden äußerlich eine Einheit. Wahrscheinlich schon im Jahr 1441 wurde auch mit dem Bau des Westturms begonnen. Die Arbeiten mussten jedoch bis 1508 unterbrochen werden. Wahrscheinlich 1515 wurde der Turm – damals mit einem spitzen gotischen Helm – vollendet.
Als Baumeister nennen Urkunden einen Heidelberger Bürger namens Arnold Rype, der zeitweilig auch Bürgermeister der Stadt war. Im damaligen Sprachgebrauch meinte man mit Baumeister jedoch nicht den Architekten, sondern den – oft ehren- oder nebenamtlich tätigen – Finanzkoordinator. Von den Architekten der Heiliggeistkirche kennt man lediglich Hans Marx, welcher 1423 in einer Urkunde erwähnt wird und bis 1426 an der Kirche arbeitete, sowie Jorg, der bis 1439 zuständig war. Beide beaufsichtigten wahrscheinlich die Arbeiten am Langhaus. Unter Friedrich dem Siegreichen kam der berühmte Turmbauspezialist Niclaus Eseler aus Mainz nach Heidelberg, der vermutlich den Großteil der Arbeiten am Turm der Heiliggeistkirche durchführte, der jedoch erst in der letzten Bauphase von Lorenz Lechler vollendet wurde.
Am 22. Mai 1693 wurde die Kirche während des Pfälzischen Erbfolgekrieges schwer beschädigt. Französische Truppen sperrten eine große Menschenmenge in der Heiliggeistkirche ein und steckten die Kirche in Brand. Erst als bereits Glocken, Balken und Gewölbeteile herabstürzten, wurde auf Bitten des jungen reformierten Pfarrers Johann Daniel Schmidtmann eine Tür geöffnet. Bei der Flucht aus der Kirche wurden viele Menschen erdrückt, andere von französischen Soldaten, die die Kirche plünderten, misshandelt.
In den Jahren 1698 bis 1700 wurde das Dach in damals moderner gebrochener Form wiederhergestellt. Bei dem Dach handelt es sich um eines der frühesten noch komplett erhaltenen Mansarddächer in Deutschland. 1709 erhielt der Turm seine barocke welsche Haube. Zwischenzeitlich angebrachte Seitenkapellen wurden bei dem Wiederaufbau entfernt.
Von 1978 bis 1985 wurde die Kirche umfassend restauriert; dabei wurde die ursprüngliche, auf Rottönen basierende Farbgebung wiederhergestellt.
Architektur
Die Heiliggeistkirche ist aus sorgfältig behauenen Sandsteinquadern aus dem Neckartal erbaut. Der Hallenumgangschor ist mit einer dreischiffigen Emporenhalle unter einem durchlaufenden Dach verbunden. Eine derartige Emporenhalle findet man in Süddeutschland äußerst selten. Den Durchgang vom Mittelschiff zu den Seitenschiffen bilden sechs Arkaden mit schlanken, kapitelllosen Rundpfeilern. Der gesamte Kirchenraum ist von einem einfachen Kreuzrippengewölbe überdeckt.
Das Niveau der nördlichen Empore liegt über dem der Südempore. Ungewöhnlich ist, dass die Seitenschiffe breiter als das Mittelschiff sind. Dies beruht darauf, dass die Emporen der Seitenschiffe von Anfang an dazu bestimmt waren, die Büchersammlung des Kurfürsten Ludwig III. aufzunehmen. Eine weitere Besonderheit liegt darin, dass die Hauptblickachse nicht wie üblich auf ein Fenster im Chor, sondern auf einen Strebepfeiler gerichtet ist. Dieses kühne Motiv der Achsenverschränkung ist bei Kirchenbauten der Parler-Schule oft zu finden. Eine baugeschichtliche Besonderheit stellt die Einziehung des Chormittelschiffs zum Triumphbogen dar.
An den Längsseiten der Kirche befinden sich gestufte, bis auf einige Wasserspeier schmucklose Strebevorlagen, dazwischen jeweils zwei übereinander angeordnete Maßwerkfenster, die großen am Chor mit drei oder vier Pässen. Der schlanke Westturm ist in den Baukörper eingezogen und besitzt ein achteckiges Glockengeschoss mit einer markanten Barockhaube.
Äußeres
Kennzeichnend für das Äußere der Heiliggeistkirche ist eine gewisse Monumentalität unter Verzicht auf Architekturdetails. An der Nordseite des Chors ist eine Sakristei angebaut mit einer gemalten Strahlenkranzmadonna an der Nordostecke als einzigem Schmuck. Das Gemälde stammt aus dem späten Mittelalter und wurde im 19. Jahrhundert sowie im Jahre 1987 restauriert.
Aus der Barockzeit stammen jeweils drei nachträglich eingebaute Portale an der Nord- und der Südseite. Über den mittleren Portalen auf Nord- und Südseite ist das Wappen des Kurfürsten Johann Wilhelm und seiner Gemahlin Anna Maria Luisa de’ Medici angebracht. Unter diesem Herrscher wurde die Kirche instand gesetzt. Das barocke Hauptportal wurde 1967 an die Nordseite versetzt und durch ein neugestaltetes Portal ersetzt. An der Nordseite am Fischmarkt ist in der Außenwand ein kleiner mit Fischen geschmückter Brunnen eingelassen. Eine Markierung zeigt den Stand des Hochwassers im Jahr 1784 an.
Typisch für die Heiliggeistkirche sind die kleinen Ladenanbauten, die zwischen den Strebepfeilern eingefügt sind. Während früher Blumenhändler, Schuhmacher und Bäcker zu finden waren, sind heute neben kleinen Buchläden vor allem Andenkenbuden dort untergebracht. Der Schriftsteller Michael Buselmeier schrieb, dass sich „der Andenkenschund immer dreister breitmacht“. Auf der Südseite sind im Mauerwerk mehrere Brezeln dargestellt. Diese Darstellungen stammen aus dem 15. Jahrhundert und zeigen das richtige Größenmaß an, damit die Kunden überprüfen konnten, ob die von den Bäckern verkauften Brezeln die richtige Größe hatten.
Königsgrab
Entsprechend der Funktion als kurfürstliche Grablege befanden sich im Chor der Heiliggeistkirche insgesamt 54 Grabmale und Särge von zwischen 1410 und 1685 bestatteten Kurfürsten der Pfalz und von Angehörigen der kurfürstlichen Familien. Als besonders prächtig galt das Renaissance-Grabmal von Ottheinrich, das – schon zu seinen Lebzeiten aufgestellt – wegen der freizügigen Frauenfiguren Anstoß erregte, sodass Ottheinrich es mit Tüchern verhüllen ließ. Auch die Grabmale von Ludwig VI. und von Friedrich IV. waren aufwändig und repräsentativ gestaltet. Karl Ludwig und Karl II. verzichteten demgegenüber auf Grabmäler und ließen sich in schlichten Särgen bestatten.
Im Pfälzischen Erbfolgekrieg wurden nahezu alle Grabmäler durch Brand und Plünderungen zerstört. Nur noch die Grabplatte des Kurfürsten Ruprecht III., als Ruprecht I. deutscher König, und seiner Gemahlin Elisabeth von Hohenzollern ist erhalten. Dabei handelt es sich um die Deckplatte der zerstörten Tumba. Das Grab war ursprünglich als Hochgrab in der Mitte des Chores aufgestellt, inzwischen hat die Grabplatte einen Platz im nördlichen Seitenschiff gefunden. Sie stellt eine bedeutende Bildhauerarbeit im hochgotischen „weichen Stil“ dar. Die Gesichter sind idealisiert, der König ist mit Zepter, Krone und Reichsapfel als Zeichen seiner Würde dargestellt. Die schlanken Körper sind in schwere und reiche Gewänder gehüllt, die kunstvolle Falten werfen. Die Gesichter wurden 1693 beschädigt und danach ergänzt. Zu Füßen des Königs liegt ein Löwe als Symbol der Stärke, zu Füßen der Königin ein Hund als Zeichen der Treue. Zwischenzeitlich befand sich die Grabplatte an der Scheidemauer, seit 1936 ist sie an ihrem jetzigen Platz, allerdings verkehrt herum, aufgestellt: Statt wie ursprünglich nach Osten, der aufgehenden Sonne und dem Jüngsten Tag entgegen, blickt der König nun nach Westen.
Als der Kurfürst im Jahr 1720 die Residenz nach Mannheim verlegte, wurde die Kirche im heute nicht mehr vorhandenen Heidelberger Karmeliterkloster neue kurfürstliche Grablage. Nach dem Ende der Kurpfalz im Jahr 1803 ließ Kurfürst Maximilian IV. Joseph die Särge nach München überführen, wo sie sich in St. Michael befinden.
Im südlichen Seitenschiff befinden sich einige Grabplatten von kurfürstlichen Hofmeistern und Professoren der Universität aus dem 15. Jahrhundert mit deutlichen Spuren des Brandes aus dem Jahr 1693.[28] Sie waren bei den Restaurierungsarbeiten ab 1936 im Kirchenraum gesichert worden und wurden anschließend dort eingemauert.
Glasfenster
Die mittelalterlichen Glasfenster wurden bei dem Brand im Jahre 1693 zerstört. Die später eingebauten Fenster barsten durch die Druckwelle, die bei der Sprengung der Alten Brücke im März 1945 entstanden war. Alle jetzigen Glasfenster stammen daher aus der Zeit nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg.
Das westlichste Bleiglasfenster im südlichen Seitenschiff stammt von Johannes Schreiter und wurde 1984 eingebaut. Ursprünglich hatte Johannes Schreiter eine ganze Serie von Fenstern für die Heiliggeistkirche entworfen. Nach einem heftigen Streit wegen der von einigen als zu progressiv empfundenen Fenster wurde jedoch im Jahr 1986 beschlossen, keine weiteren Fenster von Johannes Schreiter einzubauen. Von den Fenstern, die die Beziehung der modernen Welt und der Wissenschaften zum Glauben reflektieren sollten, wurde nur das Physik-Fenster verwirklicht. Darin erkennt man unter anderem die berühmte einsteinsche Gleichung e = m c2 und das Datum des Atombombenabwurfs auf Hiroshima. Die fünf Fenster im Nordseitenschiff wurden in den Jahren 1999 bis 2001 eingebaut. Sie stammen von Hella Santarossa und behandeln das Wirken des für die Kirche namensgebenden Heiligen Geistes in der Welt. Das Glasfenster über der Westempore ist von Gottfried von Stockhausen aus dem Jahr 1967 und zeigt das Lamm auf dem Buch mit dem sieben Siegeln aus der Offenbarung des Johannes. Seine volle Pracht entfaltet es nur in der Abendsonne.
Bibliotheca Palatina
Von Beginn an war auf den Emporen die später um die Büchersammlung des Kurfürsten Ludwig III. erweiterte Stiftsbibliothek aufgestellt. Auf den Emporen gab es relativ gute Lichtverhältnisse zum Lesen. Durch wesentliche Ergänzung insbesondere durch Ottheinrich, aber auch unter Johann Casimir, wurde die Bibliothek zu der weltberühmten Bibliotheca Palatina. Während des Dreißigjährigen Krieges wurde die Sammlung im Jahr 1622 von Kurfürst Maximilian I. von Bayern als Kriegsbeute geraubt und dem Papst geschenkt. Von den rund 5000 Büchern und 3524 Handschriften gelangten 1816 nur 885 zurück und befinden sich heute in der Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg. Der Rest wird auch heute noch im Vatikan aufbewahrt. Zur 600-Jahr-Feier der Universität im Jahr 1986 kam eine repräsentative Auswahl der Bücher für eine einmalige Ausstellung vorübergehend an ihren alten Standort zurück. Das berühmteste Stück der Bibliotheca Palatina, die Manessische Liederhandschrift, hatte Kurfürst Friedrich V. mitgenommen, als er 1619 Heidelberg verließ, sodass sie dem Raub entging. Über Umwege gelangte sie nach Paris, 1888 konnte die Heidelberger Universitätsbibliothek sie zurückkaufen.
(Wikipedia)
Der Marktplatz ist ein zentraler Platz in der Altstadt von Heidelberg.
Topographie und Geschichte
Der Marktplatz ist einer der ältesten Plätze der Stadt und erfüllt seine namensgebende Funktion seit es den Platz als solchen gibt. Im Norden und Süden wird er von Häuserzeilen begrenzt, im Osten des Marktplatzes steht das Rathaus, im Westen wird der Platz von der Heiliggeistkirche dominiert.
In der Mitte des Platzes steht der Herkulesbrunnen, der zwischen 1706 und 1709 errichtet wurde und an die enormen Anstrengungen des Wiederaufbaus der Stadt nach den Verwüstungen des Pfälzischen Erbfolgekriegs erinnern soll.
Neben seiner Funktion als Ort für den Wochenmarkt diente der Platz in früheren Jahrhunderten auch als Platz für öffentliche Prozesse, wie z. B. gegen Johannes Sylvanus, die Räuberbande des Hölzerlips oder Mannefriedrich im Jahre 1812.
Nachdem der Marktplatz zwischenzeitlich auch als Parkplatz neben der damals noch für den Kraftfahrzeugverkehr freigegebenen Hauptstraße diente, ist er seit dem Ende der 1970er Jahre nunmehr nur noch für Fußgänger zugänglich. Im Winter dient der Marktplatz auch regelmäßig als ein Veranstaltungsort des Heidelberger Weihnachtsmarktes der am queeren "Pink Monday" nach dem 1. Advent pink-rosa beleuchtet ist (der andere Platz ist der Universitätsplatz).
(Wikipedia)
In the great fire on May 27, 1774 the town hall and partly also the church burned down. In memory of the fire, and in order to prevent similar disasters from happening, the Baroque statue of St. Florian was placed on the main square.
The Monastery at Lébény was established between 1199 and 1203, by a nobleman, for private worship. The complex was dedicated to the Apostle Saint James the Great. Though the existing charter for approving the donations and construction was signed by Andreas II (1208), one of the walls of the church had “1206” engraved in them, which may indicate that the church was already built at that time. It is also mentioned in the RegestrumVaradiense (an important language memorial), which was made in the late cathedral chapter of the present Oradea (Nagyvárad) in the 13th century. The monastery of Lébény was attacked and burnt down several times; the first by Mongols, then the second by King Ottokar I of Bohemia; and thereafter by the Turks, which was probably in 1529 and definitely in 1683. The monastery was taken back from the Turks by the arch-abbot of Pannonhalma in 1540. He named a new abbot, though the title only existed on paper for a little bit longer than two decades. In 1563 the monastery was burnt down again for the third time and was left devoured. Presently, the only part of the complex that is still standing is the iconic three-nave Romanesque church in the middle of Lébény village. This church is one of the most important Romanesque style buildings of Hungary, which was most probably restored in the 17th century by the Jesuits, and it was the first ever Hungarian monument that was restored in the second half of the 19th century. In addition, the Romanesque church is also operating as a parish of the village.
La vita selvatica si diffonde e si riproduce attraverso riti antichissimi. Riti semplici, ripetitivi, sperimentati attraverso una dimensione temporale di milioni di anni. Nonostante questo essi non cessano di affascinare e di stupire, di sedurre e di commuovere. Perché nella vita c'è un soffio di prorompente sacralità. Così, anche l'incontro tra un bombo e un fiore di trifoglio strisciante assume un fascino delicato, che esalta la semplice ritualità dell'impollinazione, trasformandola in poesia ..... ..
Niño-Halloween: Hola señora! ^o^ Truco o trat.... *ZIIIIIIIIIIIIIIP*
Viconia: Ni truco, ni trato. Halloween es una fiesta PAGANA!!! Ò__Ó
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Foto de Ataru para el concurso Pullip Quen : "Halloween"
Plešivec is an ancient seat of the Bubek family. The Ákoš family, the ancestors of the Bubeks, received it from King Belo IV. in 1243, after the battle on the Slaná River, where the ancestor of the Bubeks, Detrik, allegedly saved the king’s life. After stabilizing his position in 1320, Dominik Bubek built a water castle in Plešivec. In its vicinity, he built a monumental church, which also served as a burial place for the representatives of the family. It was constructed on the site of an older church built by his ancestors. The church, originally nearly twice as long as it is now, was a two-nave Gothic building with a polygonal ending of the chancel, originally vaulted on the central pillars.
From 1349, we have a record of the request of Juraj Bubek to the Pope for the possibility of collecting the indulgences to finance its construction. In the middle of the 14th century, the interior of the church was completed with fresco paintings of very high quality, carried out by Italian masters. In the first quarter of the 15th century, the church was completed with the north-facing funeral chapel of the Bubeks, built according to the pattern of the Spiš funeral chapels. We enter into the chapel through an impressive portal, the architecture of which is associated with the works of the Cathedral of St. Elizabeth in Košice. In its interior, we find three three-part late Gothic windows with an original tracery in the ogive arch shape and corbels of the former vaults.
In 1558, at the time of the Turkish threat, the church was severely damaged, the vault collapsed and the building remained as a ruin until its reconstruction in 1617. By that time, the church was taken over by the reformed believers who reduced its layout to its current length of 19 meters; they covered the nave with a flat ceiling and closed the entrance to the unused chapel. At that stage, the entrance to the church was established from the south and three window openings were made on the south wall. From that period comes a valuable matroneum with painted decorations from 1627. In 1807, a bell-tower was built, a beautiful example of the so-called Gemer classicism.
Traditional art derives from a creativity which combines heavenly inspiration with ethnic genius, and which does so in the manner of a science endowed with rules and not by way of individual improvisation; ars sine scientia nihil.
Within the framework of a traditional civilization, there is as already mentioned a distinction to be made between sacred art and profane art. The purpose of the first is to communicate, on the one hand, spiritual truths and, on the other hand, a celestial presence; sacerdotal art has in principle a truly sacramental function. The function of profane art is obviously more modest: it consists in providing what theologians call “sensible consolations,” with a view to an equilibrium conducive to the spiritual life, rather in the manner of the flowers and birds in a garden. The purpose of art of every kind—and this includes craftsmanship—is to create a climate and forge a mentality; it thus rejoins, directly or indirectly, the function of interiorizing contemplation, the Hindu darshan: contemplation of a holy man, of a sacred place, of a venerable object, of a Divine image.
Sacred art is vertical and ascending, whereas profane art is horizontal and equilibrating.
In the beginning, nothing was profane; each tool was a symbol, and even decoration was symbolistic and sacral.
With the passage of time, however, the imagination increasingly spread itself on the earthly plane, and man felt the need for an art that was for him and not for Heaven alone; the earth too, which in the beginning was experienced as a prolongation or an image of Heaven, progressively became earth pure and simple, that is to say that the human being increasingly felt himself to possess the right to be merely human.
If religion tolerates this art, it is because it nevertheless has its legitimate function in the economy of spiritual means, within the horizontal or earthly dimension, and with the vertical or heavenly dimension in view.
However, it must be reiterated here that the distinction between a sacred and a profane art is inadequate and too precipitate when one wishes to take account of all artistic possibilities; and it is therefore necessary to have recourse to a supplementary distinction, namely that between a liturgical and an extra-liturgical art: in the first, although in principle it coincides with sacred art, there may be modalities that are more or less profane, just as inversely, extra-liturgical art may comprise some sacred manifestations.
Sacred art is far from always being perfect, although it is necessarily so in its principles and in the best of its productions; nevertheless in the great majority of imperfect works, the principles compensate for the accidental weaknesses, rather as gold, from a certain point of view, can compensate for the but slight artistic value of a given object.
Two pitfalls lie in wait for sacred art and for traditional art in general: a virtuosity tending towards the outward and the superficial, and a conventionalism without intelligence and without soul; but this, it must be stressed, rarely deprives sacred art of its overall efficacy, and in particular of its capacity to create a stabilizing and interiorizing atmosphere.
As for imperfection, one of its causes can be the inexperience, if not the incompetence of the artist; the most primitive works are rarely the most perfect, for in the history of art there are periods of apprenticeship just as later there are periods of decadence, the latter often being due to virtuosity.
Another cause of imperfection is unintelligence, either individual or collective: the image may be lacking in quality because the artist (the word here having an approximate meaning) is lacking in intelligence or spirituality, but it may likewise bear the imprint of a certain collective unintelligence that comes from the sentimental conventionalization of the common religion; in
this case, the collective psychism clothes the spiritual element with a kind of “pious stupidity”, for if there is a naiveté that is charming, there is also a naiveté that is moralistic and irritating.
This must be said lest anyone should think that artistic expressions of the sacred dispense us from discernment and oblige us to be prejudiced, and so that no one should forget that in the traditional domain in general, there is on all planes a constant struggle between a solidifying tendency and a tendency towards transparency which draws the psychic back to the spiritual. All of this may be summed up by saying that sacred art is sacred in itself, but that it is not necessarily so in all its expressions.
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Frithjof Schuon
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Quoted in: Art from the Sacred to the Profane, East and West
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Image: Ceremonial ax, type Yue, China, Shang dynasty (16th-11th century B.C.), 13th century B.C., bronze, 35 x 37, 8 cm, Museum of East Asian Art Cologne
Sacral Baroque church
The first large sacral Baroque church in Switzerland; constructed in 1666 by Father Christoph Vogler for the Jesuits.
The exploitation rights for this text are the property of the Vienna Tourist Board. This text may be reprinted free of charge until further notice, even partially and in edited form. Forward sample copy to: Vienna Tourist Board, Media Management, Invalidenstraße 6, 1030 Vienna; media.rel@wien.info. All information in this text without guarantee.
Author: Andreas Nierhaus, Curator of Architecture/Wien Museum
Last updated January 2014
Architecture in Vienna
Vienna's 2,000-year history is present in a unique density in the cityscape. The layout of the center dates back to the Roman city and medieval road network. Romanesque and Gothic churches characterize the streets and squares as well as palaces and mansions of the baroque city of residence. The ring road is an expression of the modern city of the 19th century, in the 20th century extensive housing developments set accents in the outer districts. Currently, large-scale urban development measures are implemented; distinctive buildings of international star architects complement the silhouette of the city.
Due to its function as residence of the emperor and European power center, Vienna for centuries stood in the focus of international attention, but it was well aware of that too. As a result, developed an outstanding building culture, and still today on a worldwide scale only a few cities can come up with a comparable density of high-quality architecture. For several years now, Vienna has increased its efforts to connect with its historical highlights and is drawing attention to itself with some spectacular new buildings. The fastest growing city in the German-speaking world today most of all in residential construction is setting standards. Constants of the Viennese architecture are respect for existing structures, the palpability of historical layers and the dialogue between old and new.
Culmination of medieval architecture: the Stephansdom
The oldest architectural landmark of the city is St. Stephen's Cathedral. Under the rule of the Habsburgs, defining the face of the city from the late 13th century until 1918 in a decisive way, the cathedral was upgraded into the sacral monument of the political ambitions of the ruling house. The 1433 completed, 137 meters high southern tower, by the Viennese people affectionately named "Steffl", is a masterpiece of late Gothic architecture in Europe. For decades he was the tallest stone structure in Europe, until today he is the undisputed center of the city.
The baroque residence
Vienna's ascension into the ranks of the great European capitals began in Baroque. Among the most important architects are Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach and Johann Lucas von Hildebrandt. Outside the city walls arose a chain of summer palaces, including the garden Palais Schwarzenberg (1697-1704) as well as the Upper and Lower Belvedere of Prince Eugene of Savoy (1714-22). Among the most important city palaces are the Winter Palace of Prince Eugene (1695-1724, now a branch of the Belvedere) and the Palais Daun-Kinsky (auction house in Kinsky 1713-19). The emperor himself the Hofburg had complemented by buildings such as the Imperial Library (1722-26) and the Winter Riding School (1729-34). More important, however, for the Habsburgs was the foundation of churches and monasteries. Thus arose before the city walls Fischer von Erlach's Karlskirche (1714-39), which with its formal and thematic complex show façade belongs to the major works of European Baroque. In colored interior rooms like that of St. Peter's Church (1701-22), the contemporary efforts for the synthesis of architecture, painting and sculpture becomes visible.
Upgrading into metropolis: the ring road time (Ringstraßenzeit)
Since the Baroque, reflections on extension of the hopelessly overcrowed city were made, but only Emperor Franz Joseph ordered in 1857 the demolition of the fortifications and the connection of the inner city with the suburbs. 1865, the Ring Road was opened. It is as the most important boulevard of Europe an architectural and in terms of urban development achievement of the highest rank. The original building structure is almost completely preserved and thus conveys the authentic image of a metropolis of the 19th century. The public representational buildings speak, reflecting accurately the historicism, by their style: The Greek Antique forms of Theophil Hansen's Parliament (1871-83) stood for democracy, the Renaissance of the by Heinrich Ferstel built University (1873-84) for the flourishing of humanism, the Gothic of the Town Hall (1872-83) by Friedrich Schmidt for the medieval civic pride.
Dominating remained the buildings of the imperial family: Eduard van der Nüll's and August Sicardsburg's Opera House (1863-69), Gottfried Semper's and Carl Hasenauer's Burgtheater (1874-88), their Museum of Art History and Museum of Natural History (1871-91) and the Neue (New) Hofburg (1881-1918 ). At the same time the ring road was the preferred residential area of mostly Jewish haute bourgeoisie. With luxurious palaces the families Ephrussi, Epstein or Todesco made it clear that they had taken over the cultural leadership role in Viennese society. In the framework of the World Exhibition of 1873, the new Vienna presented itself an international audience. At the ring road many hotels were opened, among them the Hotel Imperial and today's Palais Hansen Kempinski.
Laboratory of modernity: Vienna around 1900
Otto Wagner's Postal Savings Bank (1903-06) was one of the last buildings in the Ring road area Otto Wagner's Postal Savings Bank (1903-06), which with it façade, liberated of ornament, and only decorated with "functional" aluminum buttons and the glass banking hall now is one of the icons of modern architecture. Like no other stood Otto Wagner for the dawn into the 20th century: His Metropolitan Railway buildings made the public transport of the city a topic of architecture, the church of the Psychiatric hospital at Steinhofgründe (1904-07) is considered the first modern church.
With his consistent focus on the function of a building ("Something impractical can not be beautiful"), Wagner marked a whole generation of architects and made Vienna the laboratory of modernity: in addition to Joseph Maria Olbrich, the builder of the Secession (1897-98) and Josef Hoffmann, the architect of the at the western outskirts located Purkersdorf Sanatorium (1904) and founder of the Vienna Workshop (Wiener Werkstätte, 1903) is mainly to mention Adolf Loos, with the Loos House at the square Michaelerplatz (1909-11) making architectural history. The extravagant marble cladding of the business zone stands in maximal contrast, derived from the building function, to the unadorned facade above, whereby its "nudity" became even more obvious - a provocation, as well as his culture-critical texts ("Ornament and Crime"), with which he had greatest impact on the architecture of the 20th century. Public contracts Loos remained denied. His major works therefore include villas, apartment facilities and premises as the still in original state preserved Tailor salon Knize at Graben (1910-13) and the restored Loos Bar (1908-09) near the Kärntner Straße (passageway Kärntner Durchgang).
Between the Wars: International Modern Age and social housing
After the collapse of the monarchy in 1918, Vienna became capital of the newly formed small country of Austria. In the heart of the city, the architects Theiss & Jaksch built 1931-32 the first skyscraper in Vienna as an exclusive residential address (Herrengasse - alley 6-8). To combat the housing shortage for the general population, the social democratic city government in a globally unique building program within a few years 60,000 apartments in hundreds of apartment buildings throughout the city area had built, including the famous Karl Marx-Hof by Karl Ehn (1925-30). An alternative to the multi-storey buildings with the 1932 opened International Werkbundsiedlung was presented, which was attended by 31 architects from Austria, Germany, France, Holland and the USA and showed models for affordable housing in greenfield areas. With buildings of Adolf Loos, André Lurçat, Richard Neutra, Gerrit Rietveld, the Werkbundsiedlung, which currently is being restored at great expense, is one of the most important documents of modern architecture in Austria.
Modernism was also expressed in significant Villa buildings: The House Beer (1929-31) by Josef Frank exemplifies the refined Wiener living culture of the interwar period, while the house Stonborough-Wittgenstein (1926-28, today Bulgarian Cultural Institute), built by the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein together with the architect Paul Engelmann for his sister Margarete, by its aesthetic radicalism and mathematical rigor represents a special case within contemporary architecture.
Expulsion, war and reconstruction
After the "Anschluss (Annexation)" to the German Reich in 1938, numerous Jewish builders, architects (female and male ones), who had been largely responsible for the high level of Viennese architecture, have been expelled from Austria. During the Nazi era, Vienna remained largely unaffected by structural transformations, apart from the six flak towers built for air defense of Friedrich Tamms (1942-45), made of solid reinforced concrete which today are present as memorials in the cityscape.
The years after the end of World War II were characterized by the reconstruction of the by bombs heavily damaged city. The architecture of those times was marked by aesthetic pragmatism, but also by the attempt to connect with the period before 1938 and pick up on current international trends. Among the most important buildings of the 1950s are Roland Rainer's City Hall (1952-58), the by Oswald Haerdtl erected Wien Museum at Karlsplatz (1954-59) and the 21er Haus of Karl Schwanzer (1958-62).
The youngsters come
Since the 1960s, a young generation was looking for alternatives to the moderate modernism of the reconstruction years. With visionary designs, conceptual, experimental and above all temporary architectures, interventions and installations, Raimund Abraham, Günther Domenig, Eilfried Huth, Hans Hollein, Walter Pichler and the groups Coop Himmelb(l)au, Haus-Rucker-Co and Missing Link rapidly got international attention. Although for the time being it was more designed than built, was the influence on the postmodern and deconstructivist trends of the 1970s and 1980s also outside Austria great. Hollein's futuristic "Retti" candle shop at Charcoal Market/Kohlmarkt (1964-65) and Domenig's biomorphic building of the Central Savings Bank in Favoriten (10th district of Vienna - 1975-79) are among the earliest examples, later Hollein's Haas-Haus (1985-90), the loft conversion Falkestraße (1987/88) by Coop Himmelb(l)au or Domenig's T Center (2002-04) were added. Especially Domenig, Hollein, Coop Himmelb(l)au and the architects Ortner & Ortner (ancient members of Haus-Rucker-Co) by orders from abroad the new Austrian and Viennese architecture made a fixed international concept.
MuseumQuarter and Gasometer
Since the 1980s, the focus of building in Vienna lies on the compaction of the historic urban fabric that now as urban habitat of high quality no longer is put in question. Among the internationally best known projects is the by Ortner & Ortner planned MuseumsQuartier in the former imperial stables (competition 1987, 1998-2001), which with institutions such as the MUMOK - Museum of Modern Art Foundation Ludwig, the Leopold Museum, the Kunsthalle Wien, the Architecture Center Vienna and the Zoom Children's Museum on a wordwide scale is under the largest cultural complexes. After controversies in the planning phase, here an architectural compromise between old and new has been achieved at the end, whose success as an urban stage with four million visitors (2012) is overwhelming.
The dialogue between old and new, which has to stand on the agenda of building culture of a city that is so strongly influenced by history, also features the reconstruction of the Gasometer in Simmering by Coop Himmelb(l)au, Wilhelm Holzbauer, Jean Nouvel and Manfred Wehdorn (1999-2001). Here was not only created new housing, but also a historical industrial monument reinterpreted into a signal in the urban development area.
New Neighborhood
In recent years, the major railway stations and their surroundings moved into the focus of planning. Here not only necessary infrastructural measures were taken, but at the same time opened up spacious inner-city residential areas and business districts. Among the prestigious projects are included the construction of the new Vienna Central Station, started in 2010 with the surrounding office towers of the Quartier Belvedere and the residential and school buildings of the Midsummer quarter (Sonnwendviertel). Europe's largest wooden tower invites here for a spectacular view to the construction site and the entire city. On the site of the former North Station are currently being built 10,000 homes and 20,000 jobs, on that of the Aspangbahn station is being built at Europe's greatest Passive House settlement "Euro Gate", the area of the North Western Railway Station is expected to be developed from 2020 for living and working. The largest currently under construction residential project but can be found in the north-eastern outskirts, where in Seaside Town Aspern till 2028 living and working space for 40,000 people will be created.
In one of the "green lungs" of Vienna, the Prater, 2013, the WU campus was opened for the largest University of Economics of Europe. Around the central square spectacular buildings of an international architect team from Great Britain, Japan, Spain and Austria are gathered that seem to lead a sometimes very loud conversation about the status quo of contemporary architecture (Hitoshi Abe, BUSarchitektur, Peter Cook, Zaha Hadid, NO MAD Arquitectos, Carme Pinós).
Flying high
International is also the number of architects who have inscribed themselves in the last few years with high-rise buildings in the skyline of Vienna and make St. Stephen's a not always unproblematic competition. Visible from afar is Massimiliano Fuksas' 138 and 127 meters high elegant Twin Tower at Wienerberg (1999-2001). The monolithic, 75-meter-high tower of the Hotel Sofitel at the Danube Canal by Jean Nouvel (2007-10), on the other hand, reacts to the particular urban situation and stages in its top floor new perspectives to the historical center on the other side.
Also at the water stands Dominique Perrault's DC Tower (2010-13) in the Danube City - those high-rise city, in which since the start of construction in 1996, the expansion of the city north of the Danube is condensed symbolically. Even in this environment, the slim and at the same time striking vertically folded tower of Perrault is beyond all known dimensions; from its Sky Bar, from spring 2014 on you are able to enjoy the highest view of Vienna. With 250 meters, the tower is the tallest building of Austria and almost twice as high as the St. Stephen's Cathedral. Vienna, thus, has acquired a new architectural landmark which cannot be overlooked - whether it also has the potential to become a landmark of the new Vienna, only time will tell. The architectural history of Vienna, where European history is presence and new buildings enter into an exciting and not always conflict-free dialogue with a great and outstanding architectural heritage, in any case has yet to offer exciting chapters.
Info: The folder "Architecture: From Art Nouveau to the Presence" is available at the Vienna Tourist Board and can be downloaded on www.wien.info/media/files/guide-architecture-in-wien.pdf.
The tomb of Cardinal Marcelo Espínola (early 20th century) stands out, in the altarpiece a half-length image of the Virgin of Sorrows attributed to Pedro de Mena (17th century), a Crucified attributed to Juan Francisco Vázquez “the Old” (S. XVI) and the painting The betrothal of the Virgin and Saint Joseph made by Valdés Leal (mid 17th century). Through this chapel you can access the Sacristy of the Chalices.
I was in a state of extreme shock and trauma my mom got me an orange heart it seems to be good for my sacral chakra
The exploitation rights for this text are the property of the Vienna Tourist Board. This text may be reprinted free of charge until further notice, even partially and in edited form. Forward sample copy to: Vienna Tourist Board, Media Management, Invalidenstraße 6, 1030 Vienna; media.rel@wien.info. All information in this text without guarantee.
Author: Andreas Nierhaus, Curator of Architecture/Wien Museum
Last updated January 2014
Architecture in Vienna
Vienna's 2,000-year history is present in a unique density in the cityscape. The layout of the center dates back to the Roman city and medieval road network. Romanesque and Gothic churches characterize the streets and squares as well as palaces and mansions of the baroque city of residence. The ring road is an expression of the modern city of the 19th century, in the 20th century extensive housing developments set accents in the outer districts. Currently, large-scale urban development measures are implemented; distinctive buildings of international star architects complement the silhouette of the city.
Due to its function as residence of the emperor and European power center, Vienna for centuries stood in the focus of international attention, but it was well aware of that too. As a result, developed an outstanding building culture, and still today on a worldwide scale only a few cities can come up with a comparable density of high-quality architecture. For several years now, Vienna has increased its efforts to connect with its historical highlights and is drawing attention to itself with some spectacular new buildings. The fastest growing city in the German-speaking world today most of all in residential construction is setting standards. Constants of the Viennese architecture are respect for existing structures, the palpability of historical layers and the dialogue between old and new.
Culmination of medieval architecture: the Stephansdom
The oldest architectural landmark of the city is St. Stephen's Cathedral. Under the rule of the Habsburgs, defining the face of the city from the late 13th century until 1918 in a decisive way, the cathedral was upgraded into the sacral monument of the political ambitions of the ruling house. The 1433 completed, 137 meters high southern tower, by the Viennese people affectionately named "Steffl", is a masterpiece of late Gothic architecture in Europe. For decades he was the tallest stone structure in Europe, until today he is the undisputed center of the city.
The baroque residence
Vienna's ascension into the ranks of the great European capitals began in Baroque. Among the most important architects are Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach and Johann Lucas von Hildebrandt. Outside the city walls arose a chain of summer palaces, including the garden Palais Schwarzenberg (1697-1704) as well as the Upper and Lower Belvedere of Prince Eugene of Savoy (1714-22). Among the most important city palaces are the Winter Palace of Prince Eugene (1695-1724, now a branch of the Belvedere) and the Palais Daun-Kinsky (auction house in Kinsky 1713-19). The emperor himself the Hofburg had complemented by buildings such as the Imperial Library (1722-26) and the Winter Riding School (1729-34). More important, however, for the Habsburgs was the foundation of churches and monasteries. Thus arose before the city walls Fischer von Erlach's Karlskirche (1714-39), which with its formal and thematic complex show façade belongs to the major works of European Baroque. In colored interior rooms like that of St. Peter's Church (1701-22), the contemporary efforts for the synthesis of architecture, painting and sculpture becomes visible.
Upgrading into metropolis: the ring road time (Ringstraßenzeit)
Since the Baroque, reflections on extension of the hopelessly overcrowed city were made, but only Emperor Franz Joseph ordered in 1857 the demolition of the fortifications and the connection of the inner city with the suburbs. 1865, the Ring Road was opened. It is as the most important boulevard of Europe an architectural and in terms of urban development achievement of the highest rank. The original building structure is almost completely preserved and thus conveys the authentic image of a metropolis of the 19th century. The public representational buildings speak, reflecting accurately the historicism, by their style: The Greek Antique forms of Theophil Hansen's Parliament (1871-83) stood for democracy, the Renaissance of the by Heinrich Ferstel built University (1873-84) for the flourishing of humanism, the Gothic of the Town Hall (1872-83) by Friedrich Schmidt for the medieval civic pride.
Dominating remained the buildings of the imperial family: Eduard van der Nüll's and August Sicardsburg's Opera House (1863-69), Gottfried Semper's and Carl Hasenauer's Burgtheater (1874-88), their Museum of Art History and Museum of Natural History (1871-91) and the Neue (New) Hofburg (1881-1918 ). At the same time the ring road was the preferred residential area of mostly Jewish haute bourgeoisie. With luxurious palaces the families Ephrussi, Epstein or Todesco made it clear that they had taken over the cultural leadership role in Viennese society. In the framework of the World Exhibition of 1873, the new Vienna presented itself an international audience. At the ring road many hotels were opened, among them the Hotel Imperial and today's Palais Hansen Kempinski.
Laboratory of modernity: Vienna around 1900
Otto Wagner's Postal Savings Bank (1903-06) was one of the last buildings in the Ring road area Otto Wagner's Postal Savings Bank (1903-06), which with it façade, liberated of ornament, and only decorated with "functional" aluminum buttons and the glass banking hall now is one of the icons of modern architecture. Like no other stood Otto Wagner for the dawn into the 20th century: His Metropolitan Railway buildings made the public transport of the city a topic of architecture, the church of the Psychiatric hospital at Steinhofgründe (1904-07) is considered the first modern church.
With his consistent focus on the function of a building ("Something impractical can not be beautiful"), Wagner marked a whole generation of architects and made Vienna the laboratory of modernity: in addition to Joseph Maria Olbrich, the builder of the Secession (1897-98) and Josef Hoffmann, the architect of the at the western outskirts located Purkersdorf Sanatorium (1904) and founder of the Vienna Workshop (Wiener Werkstätte, 1903) is mainly to mention Adolf Loos, with the Loos House at the square Michaelerplatz (1909-11) making architectural history. The extravagant marble cladding of the business zone stands in maximal contrast, derived from the building function, to the unadorned facade above, whereby its "nudity" became even more obvious - a provocation, as well as his culture-critical texts ("Ornament and Crime"), with which he had greatest impact on the architecture of the 20th century. Public contracts Loos remained denied. His major works therefore include villas, apartment facilities and premises as the still in original state preserved Tailor salon Knize at Graben (1910-13) and the restored Loos Bar (1908-09) near the Kärntner Straße (passageway Kärntner Durchgang).
Between the Wars: International Modern Age and social housing
After the collapse of the monarchy in 1918, Vienna became capital of the newly formed small country of Austria. In the heart of the city, the architects Theiss & Jaksch built 1931-32 the first skyscraper in Vienna as an exclusive residential address (Herrengasse - alley 6-8). To combat the housing shortage for the general population, the social democratic city government in a globally unique building program within a few years 60,000 apartments in hundreds of apartment buildings throughout the city area had built, including the famous Karl Marx-Hof by Karl Ehn (1925-30). An alternative to the multi-storey buildings with the 1932 opened International Werkbundsiedlung was presented, which was attended by 31 architects from Austria, Germany, France, Holland and the USA and showed models for affordable housing in greenfield areas. With buildings of Adolf Loos, André Lurçat, Richard Neutra, Gerrit Rietveld, the Werkbundsiedlung, which currently is being restored at great expense, is one of the most important documents of modern architecture in Austria.
Modernism was also expressed in significant Villa buildings: The House Beer (1929-31) by Josef Frank exemplifies the refined Wiener living culture of the interwar period, while the house Stonborough-Wittgenstein (1926-28, today Bulgarian Cultural Institute), built by the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein together with the architect Paul Engelmann for his sister Margarete, by its aesthetic radicalism and mathematical rigor represents a special case within contemporary architecture.
Expulsion, war and reconstruction
After the "Anschluss (Annexation)" to the German Reich in 1938, numerous Jewish builders, architects (female and male ones), who had been largely responsible for the high level of Viennese architecture, have been expelled from Austria. During the Nazi era, Vienna remained largely unaffected by structural transformations, apart from the six flak towers built for air defense of Friedrich Tamms (1942-45), made of solid reinforced concrete which today are present as memorials in the cityscape.
The years after the end of World War II were characterized by the reconstruction of the by bombs heavily damaged city. The architecture of those times was marked by aesthetic pragmatism, but also by the attempt to connect with the period before 1938 and pick up on current international trends. Among the most important buildings of the 1950s are Roland Rainer's City Hall (1952-58), the by Oswald Haerdtl erected Wien Museum at Karlsplatz (1954-59) and the 21er Haus of Karl Schwanzer (1958-62).
The youngsters come
Since the 1960s, a young generation was looking for alternatives to the moderate modernism of the reconstruction years. With visionary designs, conceptual, experimental and above all temporary architectures, interventions and installations, Raimund Abraham, Günther Domenig, Eilfried Huth, Hans Hollein, Walter Pichler and the groups Coop Himmelb(l)au, Haus-Rucker-Co and Missing Link rapidly got international attention. Although for the time being it was more designed than built, was the influence on the postmodern and deconstructivist trends of the 1970s and 1980s also outside Austria great. Hollein's futuristic "Retti" candle shop at Charcoal Market/Kohlmarkt (1964-65) and Domenig's biomorphic building of the Central Savings Bank in Favoriten (10th district of Vienna - 1975-79) are among the earliest examples, later Hollein's Haas-Haus (1985-90), the loft conversion Falkestraße (1987/88) by Coop Himmelb(l)au or Domenig's T Center (2002-04) were added. Especially Domenig, Hollein, Coop Himmelb(l)au and the architects Ortner & Ortner (ancient members of Haus-Rucker-Co) by orders from abroad the new Austrian and Viennese architecture made a fixed international concept.
MuseumQuarter and Gasometer
Since the 1980s, the focus of building in Vienna lies on the compaction of the historic urban fabric that now as urban habitat of high quality no longer is put in question. Among the internationally best known projects is the by Ortner & Ortner planned MuseumsQuartier in the former imperial stables (competition 1987, 1998-2001), which with institutions such as the MUMOK - Museum of Modern Art Foundation Ludwig, the Leopold Museum, the Kunsthalle Wien, the Architecture Center Vienna and the Zoom Children's Museum on a wordwide scale is under the largest cultural complexes. After controversies in the planning phase, here an architectural compromise between old and new has been achieved at the end, whose success as an urban stage with four million visitors (2012) is overwhelming.
The dialogue between old and new, which has to stand on the agenda of building culture of a city that is so strongly influenced by history, also features the reconstruction of the Gasometer in Simmering by Coop Himmelb(l)au, Wilhelm Holzbauer, Jean Nouvel and Manfred Wehdorn (1999-2001). Here was not only created new housing, but also a historical industrial monument reinterpreted into a signal in the urban development area.
New Neighborhood
In recent years, the major railway stations and their surroundings moved into the focus of planning. Here not only necessary infrastructural measures were taken, but at the same time opened up spacious inner-city residential areas and business districts. Among the prestigious projects are included the construction of the new Vienna Central Station, started in 2010 with the surrounding office towers of the Quartier Belvedere and the residential and school buildings of the Midsummer quarter (Sonnwendviertel). Europe's largest wooden tower invites here for a spectacular view to the construction site and the entire city. On the site of the former North Station are currently being built 10,000 homes and 20,000 jobs, on that of the Aspangbahn station is being built at Europe's greatest Passive House settlement "Euro Gate", the area of the North Western Railway Station is expected to be developed from 2020 for living and working. The largest currently under construction residential project but can be found in the north-eastern outskirts, where in Seaside Town Aspern till 2028 living and working space for 40,000 people will be created.
In one of the "green lungs" of Vienna, the Prater, 2013, the WU campus was opened for the largest University of Economics of Europe. Around the central square spectacular buildings of an international architect team from Great Britain, Japan, Spain and Austria are gathered that seem to lead a sometimes very loud conversation about the status quo of contemporary architecture (Hitoshi Abe, BUSarchitektur, Peter Cook, Zaha Hadid, NO MAD Arquitectos, Carme Pinós).
Flying high
International is also the number of architects who have inscribed themselves in the last few years with high-rise buildings in the skyline of Vienna and make St. Stephen's a not always unproblematic competition. Visible from afar is Massimiliano Fuksas' 138 and 127 meters high elegant Twin Tower at Wienerberg (1999-2001). The monolithic, 75-meter-high tower of the Hotel Sofitel at the Danube Canal by Jean Nouvel (2007-10), on the other hand, reacts to the particular urban situation and stages in its top floor new perspectives to the historical center on the other side.
Also at the water stands Dominique Perrault's DC Tower (2010-13) in the Danube City - those high-rise city, in which since the start of construction in 1996, the expansion of the city north of the Danube is condensed symbolically. Even in this environment, the slim and at the same time striking vertically folded tower of Perrault is beyond all known dimensions; from its Sky Bar, from spring 2014 on you are able to enjoy the highest view of Vienna. With 250 meters, the tower is the tallest building of Austria and almost twice as high as the St. Stephen's Cathedral. Vienna, thus, has acquired a new architectural landmark which cannot be overlooked - whether it also has the potential to become a landmark of the new Vienna, only time will tell. The architectural history of Vienna, where European history is presence and new buildings enter into an exciting and not always conflict-free dialogue with a great and outstanding architectural heritage, in any case has yet to offer exciting chapters.
Info: The folder "Architecture: From Art Nouveau to the Presence" is available at the Vienna Tourist Board and can be downloaded on www.wien.info/media/files/guide-architecture-in-wien.pdf.
Milan Cathedral (Italian: Duomo di Milano; Lombard: Domm de Milan) is the cathedral church of Milan, Italy. Dedicated to Santa Maria Nascente (Saint Mary Nascent), it is the seat of the Archbishop of Milan, currently Cardinal Angelo Scola.
The Gothic cathedral took nearly six centuries to complete. It is the fifth largest cathedral in the world, and the largest in the Italian state territory.
The roof is open to tourists, which allows many a close-up view of some spectacular sculpture that would otherwise be unappreciated. The roof of the cathedral is renowned for the forest of openwork pinnacles and spires, set upon delicate flying buttresses.
It was constructed in 1694 by Valentin Ulrich Grotian (*24.08.1663 / † 19.05.1741)
He had built seven church organs in East Friesland during his life, but this one here in Pilsum is the only one that still exists today nearly in the original state.
The New Jerusalem Monastery, also known as the Voskresensky Monastery (Russian: Новоиерусалимский монастырь), is a male monastery, located in the town of Istra in Moscow Oblast, Russia.
The New Jerusalem Monastery was founded in 1656 by Patriarch Nikon as a patriarchal residence in the outskirts of Moscow. The monastery took its name from the New Jerusalem. This site was chosen for its resemblance to the Holy Land. The River Istra represents the River Jordan, and the buildings represent the 'sacral space' or holy places of Jerusalem. In his time, Patriarch Nikon took in several monks of non-Russian origin to populate the monastery, for it was intended to represent the multinational Orthodoxy of the Heavenly Jerusalem. The architectural ensemble of the monastery includes the Resurrection Cathedral (1656–1685), identical to a cathedral of the same name in Jerusalem, Patriarch Nikon's abode (1658), stone wall with towers (1690–1694), Church of the Holy Trinity (1686–1698), and other buildings, all of them finished with majolica and stucco moulding. Architects P.I.Zaborsky, Yakov Bukhvostov, Bartolomeo Rastrelli, Matvei Kazakov, Karl Blank and others took part in the creation of this ensemble. In the 17th century, the New Jerusalem Monastery owned a big library, compiled by Nikon from the manuscripts, taken from other monasteries. By the secularization of 1764, the monastery had already possessed some 13,000 peasants.
Gate and Resurrection Cathedral.In 1918, the New Jerusalem Monastery was closed down. In 1920, they opened a museum of history and arts and a museum of regional studies in on the premises of the monastery. In 1935, the Moscow Oblast Museum of Regional Studies was opened in one of the monastic buildings. In 1941, the German army ransacked the New Jerusalem Monastery. Before their retreat they had its unique grand belfry blown up; the towers were demolished; the vaults of the cathedral collapsed and buried its famous iconostasis, among other valuables. In 1959, the museum was re-opened for public, although the belltower has never been rebuilt, while the interior of the cathedral is still bare. The New Jerusalem Monastery resumed its service as a male monastery only in the 1990s.
In March 2009 Russian president Dmitry Medvedev signed a presidential decree on the restoration and renovation of the New Jerusalem Monastery. The federal government was instructed to subsidise the monastery restoration fund from the federal budget starting in 2009, with vice prime minister Viktor Zubkov assuming it will cost about 13–20 billion roubles.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Jerusalem_Monastery
ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%d0%9d%d0%be%d0%b2%d0%be%d0%b8%d0%b...
The fortified early Gothic church from the first half of the 14th century was built on the site of an older building. In the 15th century it was fortified with a wall and a wooden bell tower was built on the grounds in 1657. The single-nave space with a square-ended presbytery and a built-in sacristy has a painted cassette ceiling from 1758, the presbytery is characteristic by its rib vault. The mural paintings date back to the 60s of the 14th century and the creator of at least a part of them is the Master of Ochtiná presbytery. These interior frescoes were discovered in the early 20th century by I. Huszka who was restoring them in 1905. All the paintings, interior and exterior ones, were completely restored between 1983 and 1985 by J. Josefík, L. Székely and I. Žuch.
Within the almost intact medieval church, the murals have a uniquely strong impression and informative value, thanks to their scale and complexity of preservation. Thematically they focus on individual scenes from the Marian and the Passion cycle, but they do not have a uniform concept unlike the upper belt on the nave’s northern wall with a complete depiction of the St. Ladislaus legend.
The exploitation rights for this text are the property of the Vienna Tourist Board. This text may be reprinted free of charge until further notice, even partially and in edited form. Forward sample copy to: Vienna Tourist Board, Media Management, Invalidenstraße 6, 1030 Vienna; media.rel@wien.info. All information in this text without guarantee.
Author: Andreas Nierhaus, Curator of Architecture/Wien Museum
Last updated January 2014
Architecture in Vienna
Vienna's 2,000-year history is present in a unique density in the cityscape. The layout of the center dates back to the Roman city and medieval road network. Romanesque and Gothic churches characterize the streets and squares as well as palaces and mansions of the baroque city of residence. The ring road is an expression of the modern city of the 19th century, in the 20th century extensive housing developments set accents in the outer districts. Currently, large-scale urban development measures are implemented; distinctive buildings of international star architects complement the silhouette of the city.
Due to its function as residence of the emperor and European power center, Vienna for centuries stood in the focus of international attention, but it was well aware of that too. As a result, developed an outstanding building culture, and still today on a worldwide scale only a few cities can come up with a comparable density of high-quality architecture. For several years now, Vienna has increased its efforts to connect with its historical highlights and is drawing attention to itself with some spectacular new buildings. The fastest growing city in the German-speaking world today most of all in residential construction is setting standards. Constants of the Viennese architecture are respect for existing structures, the palpability of historical layers and the dialogue between old and new.
Culmination of medieval architecture: the Stephansdom
The oldest architectural landmark of the city is St. Stephen's Cathedral. Under the rule of the Habsburgs, defining the face of the city from the late 13th century until 1918 in a decisive way, the cathedral was upgraded into the sacral monument of the political ambitions of the ruling house. The 1433 completed, 137 meters high southern tower, by the Viennese people affectionately named "Steffl", is a masterpiece of late Gothic architecture in Europe. For decades he was the tallest stone structure in Europe, until today he is the undisputed center of the city.
The baroque residence
Vienna's ascension into the ranks of the great European capitals began in Baroque. Among the most important architects are Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach and Johann Lucas von Hildebrandt. Outside the city walls arose a chain of summer palaces, including the garden Palais Schwarzenberg (1697-1704) as well as the Upper and Lower Belvedere of Prince Eugene of Savoy (1714-22). Among the most important city palaces are the Winter Palace of Prince Eugene (1695-1724, now a branch of the Belvedere) and the Palais Daun-Kinsky (auction house in Kinsky 1713-19). The emperor himself the Hofburg had complemented by buildings such as the Imperial Library (1722-26) and the Winter Riding School (1729-34). More important, however, for the Habsburgs was the foundation of churches and monasteries. Thus arose before the city walls Fischer von Erlach's Karlskirche (1714-39), which with its formal and thematic complex show façade belongs to the major works of European Baroque. In colored interior rooms like that of St. Peter's Church (1701-22), the contemporary efforts for the synthesis of architecture, painting and sculpture becomes visible.
Upgrading into metropolis: the ring road time (Ringstraßenzeit)
Since the Baroque, reflections on extension of the hopelessly overcrowed city were made, but only Emperor Franz Joseph ordered in 1857 the demolition of the fortifications and the connection of the inner city with the suburbs. 1865, the Ring Road was opened. It is as the most important boulevard of Europe an architectural and in terms of urban development achievement of the highest rank. The original building structure is almost completely preserved and thus conveys the authentic image of a metropolis of the 19th century. The public representational buildings speak, reflecting accurately the historicism, by their style: The Greek Antique forms of Theophil Hansen's Parliament (1871-83) stood for democracy, the Renaissance of the by Heinrich Ferstel built University (1873-84) for the flourishing of humanism, the Gothic of the Town Hall (1872-83) by Friedrich Schmidt for the medieval civic pride.
Dominating remained the buildings of the imperial family: Eduard van der Nüll's and August Sicardsburg's Opera House (1863-69), Gottfried Semper's and Carl Hasenauer's Burgtheater (1874-88), their Museum of Art History and Museum of Natural History (1871-91) and the Neue (New) Hofburg (1881-1918 ). At the same time the ring road was the preferred residential area of mostly Jewish haute bourgeoisie. With luxurious palaces the families Ephrussi, Epstein or Todesco made it clear that they had taken over the cultural leadership role in Viennese society. In the framework of the World Exhibition of 1873, the new Vienna presented itself an international audience. At the ring road many hotels were opened, among them the Hotel Imperial and today's Palais Hansen Kempinski.
Laboratory of modernity: Vienna around 1900
Otto Wagner's Postal Savings Bank (1903-06) was one of the last buildings in the Ring road area Otto Wagner's Postal Savings Bank (1903-06), which with it façade, liberated of ornament, and only decorated with "functional" aluminum buttons and the glass banking hall now is one of the icons of modern architecture. Like no other stood Otto Wagner for the dawn into the 20th century: His Metropolitan Railway buildings made the public transport of the city a topic of architecture, the church of the Psychiatric hospital at Steinhofgründe (1904-07) is considered the first modern church.
With his consistent focus on the function of a building ("Something impractical can not be beautiful"), Wagner marked a whole generation of architects and made Vienna the laboratory of modernity: in addition to Joseph Maria Olbrich, the builder of the Secession (1897-98) and Josef Hoffmann, the architect of the at the western outskirts located Purkersdorf Sanatorium (1904) and founder of the Vienna Workshop (Wiener Werkstätte, 1903) is mainly to mention Adolf Loos, with the Loos House at the square Michaelerplatz (1909-11) making architectural history. The extravagant marble cladding of the business zone stands in maximal contrast, derived from the building function, to the unadorned facade above, whereby its "nudity" became even more obvious - a provocation, as well as his culture-critical texts ("Ornament and Crime"), with which he had greatest impact on the architecture of the 20th century. Public contracts Loos remained denied. His major works therefore include villas, apartment facilities and premises as the still in original state preserved Tailor salon Knize at Graben (1910-13) and the restored Loos Bar (1908-09) near the Kärntner Straße (passageway Kärntner Durchgang).
Between the Wars: International Modern Age and social housing
After the collapse of the monarchy in 1918, Vienna became capital of the newly formed small country of Austria. In the heart of the city, the architects Theiss & Jaksch built 1931-32 the first skyscraper in Vienna as an exclusive residential address (Herrengasse - alley 6-8). To combat the housing shortage for the general population, the social democratic city government in a globally unique building program within a few years 60,000 apartments in hundreds of apartment buildings throughout the city area had built, including the famous Karl Marx-Hof by Karl Ehn (1925-30). An alternative to the multi-storey buildings with the 1932 opened International Werkbundsiedlung was presented, which was attended by 31 architects from Austria, Germany, France, Holland and the USA and showed models for affordable housing in greenfield areas. With buildings of Adolf Loos, André Lurçat, Richard Neutra, Gerrit Rietveld, the Werkbundsiedlung, which currently is being restored at great expense, is one of the most important documents of modern architecture in Austria.
Modernism was also expressed in significant Villa buildings: The House Beer (1929-31) by Josef Frank exemplifies the refined Wiener living culture of the interwar period, while the house Stonborough-Wittgenstein (1926-28, today Bulgarian Cultural Institute), built by the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein together with the architect Paul Engelmann for his sister Margarete, by its aesthetic radicalism and mathematical rigor represents a special case within contemporary architecture.
Expulsion, war and reconstruction
After the "Anschluss (Annexation)" to the German Reich in 1938, numerous Jewish builders, architects (female and male ones), who had been largely responsible for the high level of Viennese architecture, have been expelled from Austria. During the Nazi era, Vienna remained largely unaffected by structural transformations, apart from the six flak towers built for air defense of Friedrich Tamms (1942-45), made of solid reinforced concrete which today are present as memorials in the cityscape.
The years after the end of World War II were characterized by the reconstruction of the by bombs heavily damaged city. The architecture of those times was marked by aesthetic pragmatism, but also by the attempt to connect with the period before 1938 and pick up on current international trends. Among the most important buildings of the 1950s are Roland Rainer's City Hall (1952-58), the by Oswald Haerdtl erected Wien Museum at Karlsplatz (1954-59) and the 21er Haus of Karl Schwanzer (1958-62).
The youngsters come
Since the 1960s, a young generation was looking for alternatives to the moderate modernism of the reconstruction years. With visionary designs, conceptual, experimental and above all temporary architectures, interventions and installations, Raimund Abraham, Günther Domenig, Eilfried Huth, Hans Hollein, Walter Pichler and the groups Coop Himmelb(l)au, Haus-Rucker-Co and Missing Link rapidly got international attention. Although for the time being it was more designed than built, was the influence on the postmodern and deconstructivist trends of the 1970s and 1980s also outside Austria great. Hollein's futuristic "Retti" candle shop at Charcoal Market/Kohlmarkt (1964-65) and Domenig's biomorphic building of the Central Savings Bank in Favoriten (10th district of Vienna - 1975-79) are among the earliest examples, later Hollein's Haas-Haus (1985-90), the loft conversion Falkestraße (1987/88) by Coop Himmelb(l)au or Domenig's T Center (2002-04) were added. Especially Domenig, Hollein, Coop Himmelb(l)au and the architects Ortner & Ortner (ancient members of Haus-Rucker-Co) by orders from abroad the new Austrian and Viennese architecture made a fixed international concept.
MuseumQuarter and Gasometer
Since the 1980s, the focus of building in Vienna lies on the compaction of the historic urban fabric that now as urban habitat of high quality no longer is put in question. Among the internationally best known projects is the by Ortner & Ortner planned MuseumsQuartier in the former imperial stables (competition 1987, 1998-2001), which with institutions such as the MUMOK - Museum of Modern Art Foundation Ludwig, the Leopold Museum, the Kunsthalle Wien, the Architecture Center Vienna and the Zoom Children's Museum on a wordwide scale is under the largest cultural complexes. After controversies in the planning phase, here an architectural compromise between old and new has been achieved at the end, whose success as an urban stage with four million visitors (2012) is overwhelming.
The dialogue between old and new, which has to stand on the agenda of building culture of a city that is so strongly influenced by history, also features the reconstruction of the Gasometer in Simmering by Coop Himmelb(l)au, Wilhelm Holzbauer, Jean Nouvel and Manfred Wehdorn (1999-2001). Here was not only created new housing, but also a historical industrial monument reinterpreted into a signal in the urban development area.
New Neighborhood
In recent years, the major railway stations and their surroundings moved into the focus of planning. Here not only necessary infrastructural measures were taken, but at the same time opened up spacious inner-city residential areas and business districts. Among the prestigious projects are included the construction of the new Vienna Central Station, started in 2010 with the surrounding office towers of the Quartier Belvedere and the residential and school buildings of the Midsummer quarter (Sonnwendviertel). Europe's largest wooden tower invites here for a spectacular view to the construction site and the entire city. On the site of the former North Station are currently being built 10,000 homes and 20,000 jobs, on that of the Aspangbahn station is being built at Europe's greatest Passive House settlement "Euro Gate", the area of the North Western Railway Station is expected to be developed from 2020 for living and working. The largest currently under construction residential project but can be found in the north-eastern outskirts, where in Seaside Town Aspern till 2028 living and working space for 40,000 people will be created.
In one of the "green lungs" of Vienna, the Prater, 2013, the WU campus was opened for the largest University of Economics of Europe. Around the central square spectacular buildings of an international architect team from Great Britain, Japan, Spain and Austria are gathered that seem to lead a sometimes very loud conversation about the status quo of contemporary architecture (Hitoshi Abe, BUSarchitektur, Peter Cook, Zaha Hadid, NO MAD Arquitectos, Carme Pinós).
Flying high
International is also the number of architects who have inscribed themselves in the last few years with high-rise buildings in the skyline of Vienna and make St. Stephen's a not always unproblematic competition. Visible from afar is Massimiliano Fuksas' 138 and 127 meters high elegant Twin Tower at Wienerberg (1999-2001). The monolithic, 75-meter-high tower of the Hotel Sofitel at the Danube Canal by Jean Nouvel (2007-10), on the other hand, reacts to the particular urban situation and stages in its top floor new perspectives to the historical center on the other side.
Also at the water stands Dominique Perrault's DC Tower (2010-13) in the Danube City - those high-rise city, in which since the start of construction in 1996, the expansion of the city north of the Danube is condensed symbolically. Even in this environment, the slim and at the same time striking vertically folded tower of Perrault is beyond all known dimensions; from its Sky Bar, from spring 2014 on you are able to enjoy the highest view of Vienna. With 250 meters, the tower is the tallest building of Austria and almost twice as high as the St. Stephen's Cathedral. Vienna, thus, has acquired a new architectural landmark which cannot be overlooked - whether it also has the potential to become a landmark of the new Vienna, only time will tell. The architectural history of Vienna, where European history is presence and new buildings enter into an exciting and not always conflict-free dialogue with a great and outstanding architectural heritage, in any case has yet to offer exciting chapters.
Info: The folder "Architecture: From Art Nouveau to the Presence" is available at the Vienna Tourist Board and can be downloaded on www.wien.info/media/files/guide-architecture-in-wien.pdf.
What happened to old churches and cathedrals ?
Losing their powers and their sacrality. Becoming only cold monuments or tombs.
For one evening regaining their splendor. For a concert. Music and lights. Pure magic.
Music pours in the vast space. LIght caresses and wakes up the statues. The place lives again and finds its soul back.
Que reste-t-il des églises et cathédrales d'autrefois ?
Des monstres de pierres, perdant inexorablement leur pouvoir et leur sacralité. Objets de cultes trop grands, pour une poignée de fidèles toujours plus clairsemée. Monuments froids visités par un public iconoclaste ou inculte. Vagues sépulcres.
Mais l'espace d'un soir, retrouver la vocation et la splendeur enfuies.
Pour un concert. Un requiem. Musique et lumières. La musique emplit les vastes espaces, réchauffe les pierres. La lumière chatouille et réveille les statues. Le lieu revit et retrouve son âme.
Eglise Saint-Jacques, concert Requiem de Mozart, Liège
(Saint-Jacques church, for a Requiem of Mozart special concert)
Roadside shrine watching over a water source and a vineyard. St. Jana village, in Jastrebarsko county. Late June 2017.
Taken with Panasonic GX7 camera and Leica DG Summilux 25mm F1.4 lens.
The monastery of the Benedictine Order at Pannonhalma was founded in 996 in Western Hungary and had a major role in the diffusion of Christianity in medieval Central Europe. The monastery shows a stratification of different architectural styles and various buildings.
Among these buildings: a school (the first ever school founded in the country), the monastic complex – home to the monks whose life is still based on St. Benedict’s Rule ‘Ora et labora’ -, the tourist welcome points and hospitality facilities, the Chapel of Our Lady, the Millennium Chapel and the botanical and herbal gardens.
www.comece.eu/christian-artworks-benedictine-archabbey-of...
The sacristy of the Chalices is a rectangular building built into the Cathedral of Seville which houses a splendid collection of religious painting.
The construction of the Chalices sacristy began in 1509 by the master builder of the cathedral Alonso Rodríguez. After the management passed through different hands and the works were stopped for a time, the project was resumed with a new design made by Diego de Riaño, although finally, due to the master’s death, it was completed by Martín de Gainza in 1537.
The monastery of the Benedictine Order at Pannonhalma was founded in 996 in Western Hungary and had a major role in the diffusion of Christianity in medieval Central Europe. The monastery shows a stratification of different architectural styles and various buildings.
Among these buildings: a school (the first ever school founded in the country), the monastic complex – home to the monks whose life is still based on St. Benedict’s Rule ‘Ora et labora’ -, the tourist welcome points and hospitality facilities, the Chapel of Our Lady, the Millennium Chapel and the botanical and herbal gardens.
www.comece.eu/christian-artworks-benedictine-archabbey-of...
The church in Ochtiná was formerly dedicated to St. Nicholas and is one of the oldest and most interesting landmarks of the Gemer countryside. The name of the village is most likely derived from the old German expression for the number eight: ocht, as an evidence of the area settled by German guests in the second half of the 13th century. According to historical sources, original eight German families established here a prosperous settlement founded on mining of iron ore located in the nearby Hrádok hill.
However, the layout of the church point to an older settlement which could have been destroyed during a Mongol invasion. This is indicated by a document from the king Belo IV, from 1243, by which he donates a large part of an area of the Slaná river valley for faithful services to Detrik and Filip Bubek. In 1318, Ochtiná was mentioned as a property of the Štítnik branch of the Bubek family, that certainly supported the construction of the local church and later its murals as well.
The Gothic church, built possibly on the site of a ruined Romanesque structure is a single-nave church with a polygonal-shaped chancel including a northern sacristy. Around the mid-14th century, the interiors were painted with figural wall paintings which were done by fresco technique. Research has shown that the tower had been built later, probably in second half of 15th century. Romanesque windows on the tower are secondarily used from other church in the area. At the beginning of the 16th century, the relatively small space of the church was extended with a northern side nave having a star-shaped vault.
In the first third of the 17th century, when the church was already Lutheran, medieval frescos were hidden under a white lime paint and, during the 18th century, the church was given a new Prussian vault over the nave.
Le Manx est un chat de taille moyenne à grande et au corps musclé, compact, puissant mais tout en rondeur. L'ossature et la musculature sont fortes, le dos droit. Les pattes sont de taille moyenne à courte, là aussi avec une bonne ossature et musculature. Les pattes postérieures sont légèrement plus hautes que les antérieures et les pieds ronds et fermes. La principale caractéristique du Manx est sa queue... ou plutôt son absence de queue (causée par une mutation du gène M.) On distingue plusieurs types de longueurs de queue :
Rumpy : absence totale de queue.
Rumpy riser : la queue est réduite à une excroissance de cartilage, 1 à 3 vertèbres sacrales, au bout de la colonne vertébrale. Ce nom vient du fait que le moignon est visible uniquement quand le chat tente de le lever (en anglais « lever » se dit to rise).
Stumpy : la queue ne mesure que quelques centimètres et est composée de 1 à 3 vertèbres caudales.
Longy : certains chats de race Manx peuvent avoir une queue de longueur pratiquement normale, mais elle peut être tordue et n'est pas acceptée en championnat.
On peut trouver dans une même portée Manx des chatons ayant des longueurs de queue différentes. On ne rencontre généralement en concours que des Manx rumpy. La tête est large et arrondie avec des pommettes saillantes et un nez court, large et bien incurvé. Les yeux sont grands, bien ouverts et ronds d'une couleur accordée à la robe. Les oreilles, de taille moyenne à petite, sont larges à la base avec le bout arrondi et sont placées bien espacées sur le crâne. La fourrure est courte, dense et avec un sous-poil épais. Toutes les couleurs et robes sont acceptées pour cette race.
The Catholic parish church in Hérémence is a monumental concrete building by architect Walter Maria Förderer, built in 1967-1970. Controversial to its construction period, it is considered today as an architecturally important church structure of the 20th century in Switzerland.
Pano merged from twelve single images.
SONY DSC
Sinds het najaar van 2006 zetelt boekhandel Dominicanen (voorheen boekhandel Polare) in de eeuwenoude Dominicanenkerk te Maastricht. Tweehonderd jaar geleden verloor de kerk haar sacrale functie, en ze deed sindsdien vele jaren dienst als ondermeer slangenhuis, fietsenstalling en carnavalstempel.
Selexyz dominicanen heeft een breed en diep assortiment publieksboeken en boeken voor professionals.
Op het voormalige priesterkoor van de Dominicanenkerk kunt u terecht voor een overheerlijke cappuccino of een lunchmaaltijd, verzorgd door het befaamde Blanche Dael Coffeelovers. Dit priesterkoor doet ook dienst als cultureel podium. Er vinden regelmatig lezingen en debatten plaats en er is ruimte voor expositie.