Schlagwort: 1090wien

The 2001 monument to Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) in the Votive Park next to the Votive Church made of Carrara marble by Italian sculptor Gianni Aricò shows a group of figures with three female musicians, probably an allusion to Vivaldi’s teaching activities at the “Ospedale della Pietà” in Venice, formerly an orphanage for girls, where he gave young women access to the concert business.

In front of it is an inclined plate with a metal relief and a portrait of the famous Venetian-Italian baroque composer and violinist, who was also ordained as a Roman Catholic priest at the age of 25.

The initiators of the monument – the Vienna and Venice Lions Club – wanted to create a symbol of international understanding between Italy and Austria as well as a reminder of Vivaldi’s move to Vienna in 1740, where he died just 10 months after his arrival, unnoticed by the music world, and was buried in the Bürgerspital cemetery in front of the former city wall on today’s Karlsplatz, which is also commemorated by a memorial plaque.

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 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 Sigmund Freud Museum at Berggasse 19, which has existed since 1971, is a real highlight – certainly today during the Long Night of Museums! As part of the reconstruction with reopening in mid-2020, the museum area could be significantly enlarged by expanding the premises on the 1st floor and now offers an even better insight into the biography, family and working methods of the founder of psychoanalysis, who lived and worked in these premises for 47 years.

In addition to a library and a research institute (Sigmund Freud Private Foundation), there are also rooms for contemporary art and a well-stocked store.

In the approximately 6000m2 large Ostarrichipark at Otto-Wagner-Platz in the 9th district, the „Memorial for the Jewish Children, Women and Men from Austria Murdered in the Shoah“ was opened in Nov. 2021 for the approximately 65,000 Jewish Austrians who were murdered in the course of the Shoah.

The memorial, initiated about 20 years earlier by the Austrian-Canadian artist Kurt Yakov Tutter, displays lists of names of the victims on 180 light-colored granite slabs, which were provided by the Documentation Archive of the Austrian Resistance. Tutter’s parents were murdered by the Nazi regime in the Auschwitz concentration camp; he himself was able to escape to Canada via Belgium as a child.

The square was created after the demolition of the Alser Barracks, which were located there until 1912, and was built on in a reduced form in 1925 with the neoclassical monumental building, today the seat of the Austrian National Bank. The park name refers to the oldest surviving form of the name in Austria, Ostarrichi.