Thanks to Ringo Starr (ex-Beatle) for his song — the title of my blogpost!
This blogpost exists also in French (Vienne).
I spent a whole day in Vienna last September.
Vienna offers the visitor a rich cultural life — especially musical — as well as superb parks and impressive monuments. I was delighted to see some of those reminiscences of Antiquity. The presence of Greco-Roman monuments or symbols is not surprising, as Vienna was for a long time the capital of the Holy Roman-German Empire and it was inspired by Antiquity: Greek architecture of the Austrian Parliament, Roman ruins, representation of real and mythological Greek or Roman characters, Latin inscriptions etc.
My visit to Vienna was therefore a walk through the time.
The name ‘Vienna’ comes from the Vienna river that crosses the city — also crossed by the Danube.
Because of its position on the borders of the Roman Empire, the place became a Roman fortress in the 1st century AD. and was known by the possibly Celtic name of Vindobona. As for a ‘fortress’, several successive fortifications surrounded the town. The last city wall, once destroyed, was replaced by a kind of ‘peripheral boulevard’ called Karl Renner Ring (‘ring of Karl Renner’) — or simply Ring — by which I arrived early by bus.
Behind the windows of the bus I saw the buildings of the Parliament — a little quickly — but what a wonder!
The architecture echoes the ancient monuments of the Acropolis of Athens. Indeed, the entrance to the Austrian Parliament looks a lot like the Greek Parthenon, and the big statue resembles one of those of the goddess Athena.
According to the Dictionary of Antiquity (© Oxford University Press, 1989), ‘The Parthenon (‘Temple of the Virgin Athena’) was begun in 447 BC. and consecrated, along with the cult statue of Athena, in 438. The architects were Ictinos and Callicrates, and the work was supervised by the sculptor Phidias.’
On the roof of the Austrian building there are acroteria depicting griffins.
According to the French Dictionary of Symbols, ‘The griffin was a fabulous bird with the beak and wings of an eagle and the body of a lion. Among the ancient Greeks, griffins are likened to treasure-keeper monsters. They symbolize strength and vigilance, but also the obstacle to overcome to reach the treasure.‘
As for Athena (drawings from the ‘Athènes‘, French strip cartoon by Jacques Martin, ed. Casterman, 2001), she had been sculpted by Phidias at least in two statues. One, Athena Promachos (‘who fights in front’), was placed on the Acropolis; the other one, the Chryselephantine Athena (made of ‘gold and ivory’), had been deposited in the Parthenon, where she received worship as the protector of Athens.
The Viennese seem to have made an interesting synthesis here: the griffins protect a treasure (the Parliament) and Athena, who holds a small Victory (Nike, in Greek), symbolizes military Virtue and Wisdom — useful qualities for a historically combative city!
It was a good start.
Getting off the bus, I then walked around the city center. The heart of Vienna has several pedestrian streets and the number of monuments per square kilometer is amazing.
On Michaelerplatz are the Roman ruins excavated in 1990-91.
Two small metal signs bear inscriptions in German and English. On one, we can see the words Kanal (19 JH) — Drainage system (19th century). It is a modern infrastructure. On the other, the words Römisches Haus mit Wandmalereien und Fussbodenheizung (2-4 JH) mean that there are the remains of a Roman house, built from the 2nd to 4th centuries, which had murals and a heating system by the ground, below the floor, called hypocaust.
The ruins were buried under constructions built since the 2nd century. Currently, these few vestiges are protected by a low wall and a railing.
The square where they are located is surrounded by ‘modern’ buildings, especially the Hofburg Palace with its outbuildings, former winter residence of the Habsburg of Austria.
Above the portal of the imperial palace a cartouche contains an inscription in Latin.
According to what I could read (Franciscus Josephus I … perfect A.D. MDCCCXCIII), it was under Emperor Franz-Josef 1st that the construction of this palace was completed in 1893.
On the other hand, the sculptures surrounding or surmounting the portal are reminiscent of the Antiquity, in particular the coat of arms displaying the two-headed eagle (the eagle appeared on the ensigns of the Roman legion).
Entering through a covered gallery in these imperial premises, I saw a statue depicting ‘the arrival of Augustus’ (Adventus Augusti).
As the name Kaiser (German word for ’emperor’) comes from the Latin Caesar — surname which, under the Roman Empire period, was given in title to Augustus and to the successive emperors — it is not surprising to see statues of Augustus in the palace of the Austrian Kaiser.
In a paved courtyard, one wall of which displays a sundial in Roman numbers, there is this one:
On the base decorated with a frieze of meanders in the Greek style, the Latin inscription (Amorem meum populis meis) perpetuates the love relationship of the sovereign for his subjects, who were diverse populations of Austria, Hungary, and other countries over which reigned the emperor established in Vienna.
Still among imperial buildings, here is the National Library on Josefplatz, a prestigious building decorated with elements borrowed from ancient architecture and two Latin inscriptions to the glory of various emperors and the library.
On the roofs, we notice a chariot of Victory, Atlas carrying the (golden) Earth, the two-headed eagle surrounded by Apollo (holding a lyre) and Fame (with a trumpet), while around the door caryatids seem to support the pediment.
In the square itself there were two vans bringing large haystacks. A somewhat surprising spectacle — less so when you know that the stables of the famous Spanish Riding School (die Spanische Hofreitschule), founded in 1565, are very close to Josefplatz.
Of course, it was the next visit and I was delighted to see the Lipizzaner horses in their stalls around a large inner courtyard. Above the courtyard a white Pegasus is flying!
It is, I have been told, to preserve the whiteness of the coat of these beautiful horses that the hay in their litter is changed every hour!
Then I went for a walk in a park near the palace and I saw another huge building bearing allegorical statues and a Latin inscription: His aedibus adhaeret concors populorum amor (‘To this dwelling is attached love that unites the hearts of peoples’). Like on the base of the Augustus’ statue, the love of the sovereign for his subjects is engraved in stone!
In a terrace of this park large umbrellas display the logo and name of Römerquelle mineral water, literally meaning ‘the source of Rome.’
I drank a good glass of fresh water and headed back to St. Stephen’s Cathedral (Stefandom) — Vienna’s architectural gem, whose colorful tiled roof shines.
But, right next to the cathedral, my eye was caught by the façade of a building called Zum goldenen Becher (‘At the silver goblet’).
This façade shows two verses in German: Das neue Haus mit altem Schild / Preist unsere Stadt in Wort und Bild (‘The new house with its old sign celebrates our city in word and image’). And among the images, the Muse of History (Geschichte, in German, Clio for the Greco-Romans) stands with the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius and the acronym SPQR (Senatus PopulusQue Romanus = ‘Roman senate and people’).
Not far from the crowded cathedral square, I came across the statue of the man to whom History and other modern sciences owe a lot: Gutenberg, the German printer who, in the 16th century, invented the printing press, metallic characters and an ink to print on both sides of the paper.
Why is Gutenberg of Mainz represented in Vienna?
I don’t know, but I do know that the Latin motto written on the base of the statue Post nubila Phœbus (literally, ‘After the clouds, Phœbus’) symbolizes Knowledge. Indeed, Phœbus (in Greek, Phoibos, ‘the brilliant’) is the Homeric epithet of the god Apollo, often likened to the god Helios, the Sun.
The sun shines on the right part of the base. ‘The clouds’ darken, while ‘Phœbus’ enlightens and warms — it is, symbolically, the passage from the darkness of ignorance to the light of knowledge.
Thanks to the printing press, Knowledge radiates. Thank you, Mr. Gutenberg!
Finally, this day was very full.
I saw the sunset and I thought: Good night, Vienna!