Belvedere

This blog focuses on the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum, the Leopold and WWI, FYI.

In class today we talked about Vienna’s role in the beginning of WWI. The Congress of Vienna in the early 19^th century said there was no ethnic identity or nationalism regarding the Holy Roman Empire and dissolution. The multi-ethnic empire becomes the powder keg of WWI. The Congress mapped out Europe with new boundaries for states. In 1914, the Black Hand group assassinated Franz Ferdinand. The Black Hand being a Serbian group meant that the Austrians had to declare war on the Serbians and therefore all the alliances and agreements in Europe caused everyone to get involved.

Another museum was the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum to see the World War I exhibit as well as the “Republic and Dictatorship”. From being in this museum before I knew that this was going to be another great experience, and the World War I exhibit plus the others on the first floor did not disappoint. The car that Franz Ferdinand was shot in was on display at the museum as well at the clothes he was wearing at the time. His clothes have the bullet hole in them and there was still the blood stain. This moment in history is one of the most memorable moments of Austrian history in the eyes of the world. After the end of WWI, there was a time period known as Red Vienna, which was the 20 or so years after the end of the war when Vienna was no longer ruled by a monarch. One day, we had a few students talk about the Karl-Marx-Hof, which is a public housing unit at the Heiligenstadt U-Bahn station. There was progress in equality such as the development of a welfare state as well as women getting the right to vote. On December 12, 1934, the Austrian artillery tried to suppress socialism, and that marks the end of what is known as Red Vienna, just in time for Hitler to annex Austria back to Germany, which he does in WWII. Walking through the museum and seeing all the weaponry and planes and tanks is really cool, but the propaganda posters really caught my eye. It is crazy to think that such an extreme train of thought can become so powerful in a modern world, but you can see how the Nazis really used everything they had to gain power and show their supremacy.

Today we went to the Belvedere for a second time to get a tour of the inside with Dr. O. As I said in an early post, this was the summer palace of Prince Eugene of Savoy. Inside the palace there are many different collections. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures here. The main attraction here was definitely Gustav Klimt’s – The Kiss. The Kiss is the epitome of Gustav Klimt’s Art Nouveau. His combination of gold and silver within the painting is really striking. When you look at the painting it really begs the question that Dr. O asked us: is the woman enjoying the kiss or not? I personally believe that she was not enjoying it because of the way she seems to be shying away and how he is pursuing her. I did not think that I would like Klimt as much as I have, or art for that matter in general, the collections at these museums are really amazing and speak to the wealth and power of the Habsburgs and their influence in the culture of European art.