Autor: Michael Würzelberger

Ich wünsche euch allen frohe Weihnachten und eine friedliche Zeit!
Wish you all Merry Christmas and a peacefull time!
Je vous souhaite à tous un joyeux Noël et une période de paix!
Auguro a tutti voi un buon Natale e un periodo di pace!
Les deseo a todos una Feliz Navidad y mucha paz.
Życzę Wam wszystkim Wesołych Świąt i spokojnego czasu!
Desejo-vos a todos um Feliz Natal e um tempo de paz!
Prajem vám všetkým veselé Vianoce a pokojný čas!
Я желаю всем вам счастливого Рождества и мирного времени!
Бажаю всім щасливого Різдва та мирного відпочинку!
Saya mengucapkan Selamat Natal dan waktu yang damai bagi Anda semua!
Ik wens jullie allemaal fijne kerstdagen en een vredige tijd!
मैं आप सभी को मेरी क्रिसमस और एक शांतिपूर्ण समय की कामना करता हूं!
メリークリスマスと平和な時間をお祈りします！
أتمنى لكم جميعًا عيد ميلاد سعيدًا ووقتًا هادئًا!

A special history is associated with the former women’s hospice of the cooperative health insurance funds in the 19th district. Opened in 1909, it was the first hospital built by a health insurance company in Vienna and functioned as a maternity clinic for more than 65 years until it was taken over by the University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences as an administrative building in the 1980s.

Originally built for workers‘ wives who had to give birth at home under often poor hygienic conditions with a high complication rate, the facility developed into a renowned maternity clinic with an outpatient clinic and later also a training center for doctors.

With a total of more than 100,000 births, this building was not only responsible for up to 25% of all babies born in Vienna at times, but also made a significant contribution to the further development of birth techniques and thus to the reduction of maternal and infant mortality.

PS: the building also the last stop of my guided tours (D/E) through the Cottage Quarter – for details and dates see my Cottage-Tour.

The Baroque Golden Carriage was commissioned from the French designer Nicolas Pineau in 1738 by Prince Joseph Wenzel I of Liechtenstein for his official entry as ambassador of Emperor Charles VI in Versailles and can be seen today in the Lichtenstein Garden Palace in Rossau.

Later, the carriage also found a historically significant use: on the occasion of the wedding of Joseph II in Oct. 1760 – the eldest son of Maria Theresa – the prince and his bride Isabella of Parma arrived in Vienna in the specially adapted gala carriage. This bridal procession, with an entourage of 98 carriages representing the entire high aristocracy of Europe, is also prominently depicted in the Ceremonial Hall at Schönbrunn Palace in Martin van Meytens‘ cycle of paintings.

The gold-leafed grand carrosse with masterfully executed applications, carvings and paintings in the type of a berline also features technical innovations. The design of the chassis improved stability and maneuverability, and the suspension of the cabin with leather straps increased tilt resistance.

The Roman Catholic pilgrimage church Maria Grün in the Prater near the Lusthaus from 1924 was built as a continuation of a forest devotion for school children of a nearby elementary school located there. Maria Grün refers to the image of Mary with the Child sitting in the Prater meadows above the main altar.

Lively pilgrimages were abruptly interrupted by WWII and the church was also severely damaged. After reconstruction and renovation in 2009 the simple church building with portal house and sacristy annex together with a small chapel and a popular Stations of the Cross with representation of the Holy Sepulchre (= a structural imitation of the rotunda in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem) can be seen.

Since 2000, the site has also been the seat of the AIDS chaplaincy of the Archdiocese of Vienna, with a memorial for deceased HIV-infected persons.

The „Wehrmann in Eisen“ (Soldier in Iron) from 1914 was erected to attract donations in the course of WWI to support war widows and orphans and is today located in the Rathausarkaden (City Hall Arcades) in Vienna’s Stadtplanungshaus (City Planning Building) directly next to the entrance to the MUSA, a location of the Wien Museum.

In the course of so-called war nailings, those willing to donate could hammer a nail into the limewood figure in the shape of a knight, designed by the avowed National Socialist Josef Müllner. Originally placed at Schwarzenbergplatz, there are about 500,000 nails in the sculpture. During WWII, the action was repeated in favor of the Heroes‘ Memorial in the Outer Burgtor and the base of the figure was nailed.

As a trigger for the idea, the medieval „Stock im Eisen“ (stick in the iron) on the square of the same name near St. Stephen’s Cathedral is considered the oldest surviving nail tree and found in the 20th century a large number of imitators throughout Europe.

The saying above the figure reads:

Der Soldat von Wien erinnert sich der Zeit,
Als unerschöpflich wie des Krieges Leid
Liebe war und Barmherzigkeit“

(The soldier of Vienna remembers the time,
When inexhaustible as the war’s suffering
Love was and mercy)

As early as 1234, during the reign of the Babenbergs, the rectangular Neuer Markt (New Market) was created in the city center in the course of a city expansion. 30 years later a surviving town fire testifies to a dense settlement of around 150 buildings. The square quickly developed into a center for the movement of goods to the south. Later, festivities and tournaments were held in the area, which was also called the Mehlmarkt (Flour market) by the population.

The center – reopened after almost 4 years of construction work – is enthroned by the Thunder Fountain, created in 1739, with allegorical representation of important rivers of the Archduchy of Austria. In addition to a number of historic residential buildings and palaces, the imperial crypt as the central burial place of the Habsburgs is one of the highlights worth visiting.

The so-called Maysederhaus with the store of the renowned jeweler A.E. Köchert with the famous „Sisi stars“ is also well worth a visit.

The Josephinum in the 9th district of 1785, reopened in Sept. 2022 after renovation, was originally an academy for military doctors for the Austrian army, especially in the field of medical surgery and wound care. The reform-minded Emperor Joseph II commissioned his personal surgeon Giovanni Alessandro Brambilla to reform the military medical system and had the Baroque-Classical building erected for this purpose by Isidor Canevale.

The heart of the collection is formed by the almost 1,200 anatomical wax models, which were made for training purposes in Northern Italy, and which can now be admired again in the original showcases after careful restoration. In addition to remarkable whole-body models, among other things, historical instruments and insights into the history of medicine are also on display.

As part of the Medical University of Vienna, the statue of the Greek deity Hygieia in the cour d’honneur still points to a place for exchange, teaching and research.

The freestanding Roman Catholic church at Steinhof from 1907 in Penzing (often called the „Otto Wagner Church“ after the architect) is considered a highlight of Viennese Art Nouveau and was built as an institutional church for mentally ill patients of the sanatorium and nursing home located there. Due to its imposing gilded dome, visible from afar, the site on the Baumgartner Höhe is often called „Limoniberg“, as it is reminiscent of half a lemon.

In addition to the unusual figures (including those of St. Leopold, to whom the church is also dedicated) and decorative elements typical for Wagner, such as laurel wreaths, copper crosses, marble slabs fastened with copper nails and a row of columns facing the main facade, the interior decoration, which is tailored to the caretakers, and the leaded glass windows with figures of saints, designed by Kolomann Moser, are particularly worth seeing.

Recently, the church can now be visited again in winter as part of guided tours by the Wien Museum.

On the site of the historic Lusthaus in Leopoldstadt, on the axis of the Prater Hauptallee next to the Freudenau, there was already a hunting lodge in the mid-16th century, which was rebuilt by Isidore Canevale in 1766 when the Vienna Prater was opened to the public. In the 19th century, the 8-cornered central building became a popular meeting place for Prater visitors. After a bomb hit during WW II, it was rebuilt in a somewhat simplified form in 1949.

The round hall on the ground floor is today used as a cafe-restaurant and shows representations of gods and heroes of Greek mythology. On the first floor there is a richly decorated hunting hall with a Diana cycle.

Isidore Canevale, an Austrian architect of French origin, was also responsible for the (recently reopened) Josephinum, the so-called Narrenturm and the striking entrance gate of the Augarten.

Today a posting in my own business: from now on I offer again the popular Advent tours to Schönbrunn Palace followed by a short visit to the palace gardens and the most beautiful Christmas market in Vienna.

More details and the possibility to register can be found on www.michaelsrootsinvienna.at