Lake Chiemsee

On August 3, 2009, we visited Lake Chiemsee.

We visited the town of Prien am Chiemsee, we took a boat out on Lake Chiemsee, and we visited the island of Herrenchiemsee (also known as Herreninsel). On the island, we visited the grand palace built by Ludwig II and we visited the monastery.

We did not visit the island of Frauenchiemsee (also known as Fraueninsel), shown here from the boat on Lake Chiemsee. Frauenchiemsee is the site of an abbey, seen in the photograph.

“It Was To Pompadour That He Talked, And It Was To Pompadour That He Listened”

Francois Boucher (1703-1770)
Portrait Of Marquise de Pompadour
1756
Alte Pinakothek, Munich

Oil On Canvas
80 3/8 Inches By 62 13/16 Inches

From The Dutch Golden Age

Pieter Janssens Elinga (1623-1682)
The Reading Woman
Date Unknown (Probably Circa 1657)
Alte Pinakothek, Munich

Oil On Canvas
30 3/16 Inches By 25 3/8 Inches

Looting

In the final days of World War II, there was widespread public looting in many cities of The Reich, as civilians attempted to obtain and stockpile whatever foodstuffs and consumer goods they could find.

The photograph above depicts looting in Vienna in April 1945.

The photograph below depicts looting in Munich in April 1945.

Munich 1945

This aerial photograph of Munich was taken on June 19, 1945, six weeks after cessation of hostilities.

At the very top of the photograph may be seen Frauenkirche, although the photograph cuts off the towers.

At the right is Neues Rathaus, immediately below which is Peterskirche, with only the base of its spire intact.

The open area at the bottom of the photograph is, of course, Viktualienmarkt.

Vienna 1945

The Danube Canal in central Vienna immediately after The Fall Of Vienna.

Munich's Alter Hof

Before the Wittelsbach ruling dynasty began the centuries-long project of building Munich’s Residenz, Alter Hof was home of the Wittelsbach court.

Alter Hof is comprised of five main structures built during the Medieval, Gothic and Renaissance periods. The buildings survived until World War II, when most of Alter Hof was destroyed by Allied bombing late in the war. (The Allies could not bomb Munich until it had gained air bases in Italy, which occurred only in 1944—Munich was too far from Great Britain to allow bombers to make successful round trips between Britain and Munich. The same was true of Vienna.)

Below is an engraving of an artist’s drawing from 1850 showing a small portion of Alter Hof.


Below is an engraving of an artist’s drawing from 1869 showing the inner courtyard of the very same building that appears in the 1850 drawing.


Below is a photograph that shows the latter scene today.


Much of Alter Hof was rebuilt after the war, but rebuilding was in greatly-simplified form, as the photograph above amply demonstrates.

The only portion of Alter Hof that survived the war intact was Munzhof, the portion of Alter Hof erected during the Renaissance.

Munzhof is renowned for its beautiful arcaded courtyard.


Munzhof’s courtyard was built to serve as horse stable. It later was to house the Wittelsbach art collection, and lastly was to provide a home for The Bavarian Mint (from which Munzhof ultimately was to derive its lasting name).

The courtyard of Munzhof is the only portion of Alter Hof worth visiting today.

While Munzhof’s courtyard is open to the public, the interiors of all five buildings of Alter Hof are not accessible for public viewing. Alter Hof interiors mostly house various governmental offices—although a few have been turned into Germany’s version of condominiums.

To Americans, it seems odd that portions of a former royal palace might be sold off to the public to serve as private residences.

However, how many Americans are aware that large portions of Hampton Court Palace outside London are used as “grace and favor” apartments, offered at the pleasure of The Crown? (The apartments are most often occupied by those retired from Royal Service.)

And how many Americans realize that most of Schonbrunn Palace in Vienna—everything but the ground floor, in fact—is rented out to apartment-dwellers?

Munich's Residenz

Munich's Residenz, former home to the Wittelsbach dynasty, which ruled Bavaria for over 700 years, is the subject of this photograph. Munich's National Theater, now home of The Bavarian State Opera, is barely visible on the right.


The Residenz as it appeared in 1875 may be seen in this photograph. Once again, The National Theater, then home of The Munich Court Opera, may be seen on the right.

Church Of The Holy Spirit, Munich

The Church Of The Holy Spirit ("Heiliggeistkirche") in central Munich.

Central Vienna March 1945

Vienna's Burgtheater

Vienna’s Burgtheater, which we visited on August 5 of last year.

The Burgtheater is one of Europe’s most esteemed German-language theaters. Its resident theater company is one of the most important theater companies in the world.

The present Burgtheater, sited on the Ring, was designed by Gottfried Semper (designer of Dresden’s glorious Semperoper, to which the Burgtheater bears a distinct resemblance) and Karl Von Hasenauer. The building opened to the public in 1888.

The Burgtheater was destroyed in the final months of World War II, and rebuilt between 1953 and 1955.

The postcard below shows the Burgtheater only months after the theater’s completion.

Munich's Propylaen

The Propylaen in Munich is a 19th-Century structure representing a pure recreation of Greek Doric architecture.

One of countless Leo Von Klenze buildings in central Munich, the Propylaen in Munich was inspired by the Propylaen of ancient Athens. The Propylaen in Munich was completed in 1862.

We visited Munich’s Propylaen on July 31 of last year.

Vienna

If I speak of Vienna, it must be in the past tense, as a man speaks of a woman he has loved and who is dead.

Erich Von Stroheim

The Greater The Decay, The Grander The Facade

The Austrian Parliament, on Vienna’s Ringstrasse, was designed by architect Theophil Hansen and was constructed between 1874 and 1884.

Hansen also designed Vienna's Musikverein as well as Vienna's Museum Of Military History, which we visited last summer and about which Joshua wrote in September.


I have always believed that the Austrian Parliament building is one of the great disasters of 19th-Century Greek Revival architecture. (Hansen's Museum Of Military History, admittedly in a vastly-different architectural style, is also, in my view, a very, very bad building.)

The building is fundamentally unimaginative, the sternest of all criticisms for a major architectural project. It is far too large for its setting, ignobly proportioned, overdressed and over-adorned, and lacking grace. The gargantuan and ostentatious carriageway itself ruins the structure. The Parliament is the biggest eyesore on the Ringstrasse.

The Austrian Parliament is almost impressive the first five seconds the viewer encounters the building, but the viewer quickly comes to realize that the building single-handedly ruins an entire large swath of the Ringstrasse.

When Josh’s family first saw the building last August 5, the looks on their faces were priceless: smiles quickly turned to grimaces, and Josh’s mother said, “This must be Disney’s idea of a Parliament building.”

Half of the Parliament building was totally destroyed during World War II, a great public service on the part of American bomber squadrons.

Alas, the post-war Austrian government decided to reconstruct the building, and the Parliament building was rebuilt and restored between 1945 and 1956. Interior artworks are still being restored to this very day.

Below is an old postcard of the Austrian Parliament from 1900.


In the late stages of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a rule of thumb arose: the more the Empire decayed, the grander must be the facades of the buildings.

Salzburg

Salzburg, which we visited on August 3 and 4 of last year.

Maria-Theresia Denkmal

The Maria-Theresia Monument in Vienna, which we visited on August 5 of last year.

Maria-Theresia (1717-1780) was the only female Habsburg monarch. In Austria, her reign and her person are recalled with great fondness to this very day.

The monument was erected in 1887, more than a century after Maria-Theresia’s death. Emperor Franz Josef was the moving force behind the monument.

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Joshua and I will be off to Cleveland this afternoon for a long Memorial Day Weekend.

We shall hear the Cleveland Orchestra under Franz Welser-Most in Bruckner's Symphony No. 8, visit the Cleveland Museum Of Art, and explore two retired vessels: a Great Lakes freighter and a U.S. submarine that enjoyed heavy service in World War II.

Central Vienna

The very center of Vienna, which we visited in August of last year.


Another look at the center of Vienna, three days after the Anschluss.

Theater An Der Wien

On August 4 of last year, we attended a performance of Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” at Theater An Der Wien in Vienna. I wrote about that performance after we returned from our trip.

Theater An Der Wien, which opened in 1801, was one of the finest theaters of its age. It was the most lavish theater in Europe specifically constructed not as a preserve of the nobility but for the presentation of popular fare for a general audience. The theater was the personal project of impresario Emanuel Schikaneder, best known as librettist of Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” and originator of the role of Papageno.

Little of the original exterior of Theater An Der Wien remains. The theater has been altered and refurbished numerous times over the last two hundred years, most recently in 1999.

The current main façade is entirely modern, although the restoration pays tribute to the spirit of Imperial Vienna.


Around the corner, on Millockergasse, a side street, may be observed a portion of the original exterior, the carriage entrance. This is the only part of the original exterior that has survived the many reconstructions and restorations.


The interior of Theater An Der Wien is a marvel, the very embodiment of the ideal of an opera house of the first half of the 19th Century. The theater is richly but not excessively adorned, and provides comfortable seating and excellent sightlines for 1000 patrons (the original capacity was 2000, much of which was in the form of standing room).


The original colors of the auditorium were blue and silver, the colors of red and gold having been reserved at the time for Imperial theaters. Other than the change of color scheme and the installation of modern seating, the auditorium remains much as it was in 1801.

Ludwig Von Beethoven was resident composer at Theater An Der Wien from 1803 until 1805. Indeed, Beethoven actually resided in the theater for much of that period.

The original version of “Fidelio” premiered at the theater, as did several Beethoven symphonies and concertos.

A long and distinguished list of classic Viennese operettas first saw the light of day at Theater An Der Wien, including Johann Strauss’s “Die Fledermaus” and Franz Lehar’s “The Merry Widow”.

Theater An Der Wien was closed as a theater venue shortly before the Anschluss. After Austria joined the Reich, the theater was requisitioned for use by Kraft Durch Freude (“Strength Through Joy”), the Nazi Party-sponsored labor movement that provided entertainment and holidays for the working classes.

The theater emerged from the war unscathed, and from 1945 until 1955 served as home of The Vienna State Opera while the Staatsoper building underwent post-war reconstruction.

Today, Theater An Der Wien once again serves as a full-time opera house, having recently expanded its season so as to offer twelve productions each year, one per month, within a strict stagione system. The productions receive worldwide critical coverage.

Vienna's Rathaus

Vienna’s Rathaus, the Gothic Revival Town Hall erected between 1872 and 1883, which we visited on August 5 of last year.

The photograph below shows Vienna’s Rathaus in 1938, shortly after the Anschluss.

Neues Rathaus, Munich

Munich’s Neues Rathaus, which we visited on July 31 of last year, seen from the tower of nearby Peterskirche.

The New Town Hall, a flamboyant example of Gothic Revival architecture, was constructed in two stages between 1867 and 1908. The portion of the building seen on the right was constructed first. Upon its completion, construction began on the rest of the building.