Wien Museum

Initially I thought the Wien Museum would be somewhat boring and have little new intellectual value since it could have potentially been just a museum of everything that we had already been learning about the previous three weeks. I was extremely pleased when that apprehension was immediately put to rest and the museum proved to be an exceptional supplement, especially to the reading. The Concise History of Austria was a good text for getting an idea of how the region rose to what it is today, but unfortunately there was little information specifically about Vienna. This is understandable though; in large part the history of Austria was more of the history of the Holy Roman Empire because the Austrian state in itself did not rise until the nineteenth century. While Vienna was at the center of this empire as either the residence of the Holy Roman Emperor or many of the nobles of the era, the history of the city in the Beller text is in large part incomplete because the city was not always associated with the actions of Austria or the Empire as a whole. The Wien Museum was able to fill in many of those gaps as the exhibits take you through the growth and progression of the city century by century and explain the political, social, and cultural evolution up through the twentieth century.

The first floor is dedicated to the earliest recorded history of Vienna that mainly centers on Roman occupation through the Babenberg era. The medieval Vienna grew on a foundation trade and wine production leading up to the rule of the Babenbergs in the 12^th century. It was the presence of the Babenbergs that prompted the construction of St Stephen’s Cathedral in 1137 that is still the main icon of the city today. Until 1278 when the Habsburg’s took power, the city was essentially autonomous and the city’s infrastructure began to grow as the city walls were erected. The citizens were able to govern themselves and successfully maintained independence even during the Bohemian rule from 1251 to 1276. After the Habsburgs took power Vienna became the second most important city in the Holy Roman Empire behind Cologne. In addition to the early history of Vienna, the museum has an extensive collection of sandstone relics and glass windows from St. Stephen’s Cathedral in order to preserve what the cathedral could not accommodate.

The Second Floor focuses on the development of Vienna from roughly the 16^th century though the 18^th century. This floor follows the rise of the Habsburgs and the Holy Roman Empire as one of the greatest European powers through intermarriage and subsequent territorial expansion. This floor specifically analyzes the events surrounding the Holy Roman Empire that pertain to Vienna, such as the two sieges by the Turks on the city. Nearly all of the information displayed on this floor has been analyzed in depth in other blog entries so I will skip to the Biedermeier information and the artwork displayed from that era.

The Biedermeier era came to the forefront in Vienna following the Congress of Vienna in 1815 and had a huge impact on visual art, interior decoration, and overall design. The new and powerful bourgeoisie that dominated public life advocated for this artistic style and promoted artists such as Amerling, Fendi, and Waldmuller. This style can best be described as depicting the “good old days” which was strangely ironic being that this artistic style sharply contrasted the political, social, and cultural changes going on in the early to mid 19^th century. The rapid technological change, political repression, and social tensions made Viennese life during this period anything but the peaceful atmosphere that these artists were trying to create. The attached pictures depict peace and order in both the home and in nature while promoting happy and calm relations. Further, these artists depict traditional activities such as farming, playing music, reading, and just spending time with the family in general. Perhaps the subject matter of these pictures isn’t quite as important as the social and cultural context that prompted the formation of this artistic style. The period was marked by uncertainty and change, which would prompt nostalgia for the comfort of past times, and thus the Biedermeier functioned to emulate these “good old times”. It’s interesting that both the United States and Austria have gone through such periods, only for the United States it occurred in the 1950s in the wake of fear concerning the Red Scare, Cold War, and nuclear war. While the historical context is extremely different for the two countries I think the fact that both cultures had a similar artistic period shows that while cultures can vary greatly through history and tradition people still cling to what they remember as the good old times during paradigm shifts in history.