Vienna, Part 2

A rainy day is good for museums, so I started at the Hofburg Palace (the combined ticket included six museums, but not all in the palace!), then to the museums of Maria-Theresien-Platz – the Naturhistorisches Museum (Natural History Museum) and the Kunsthistorisches Museum (Art History Museum), but I never made it to the Museums Quartier – with the Leopold Museum and the MUMOK among others, it was just too much. And I was moving fast, reading little, lingering only occasionally. I also didn’t even entertain going to several others like the Sisi, Albertina, Belvedere Palace, etc. I reckon there’s a German word for feeling overwhelmed at the vast creative productivity of humanity…?

These collections are vast, mostly old, sometimes sciency, and representing true craftsmanship, technical expertise, and an infinitude of time and imagination. No power tools or petulance, much diligent dedication. Is there something about belief or servitude, gods or kings, that provides motivation? Anyway, please know that for every pic here (and there are many) there are hundreds I didn’t take. Some of the exteriors of the magnificent buildings that house all this stuff can be found in Part 1, but of course you should go see for yourself, and what will your reactions be, the flavor of your awe and wonder?

Serendipitously, my day started and ended with Egyptian scrolls, and while I would face crowds aplenty on this day, I might’ve been the only one in the Papyrus Museum in the Hofburg Palace…

Next I went to the Pruncksaal or State Hall, AKA the Austrian National Library. Perhaps the single most impressive room all day, and not just because of the baroque architecture, resplendent painted ceilings, and exquisite ornamentation, but because of the hundreds of thousands of leatherbound books running up all the walls! Nerd heaven! Certainly, the place cannot be captured by photography and I tried only a little to docment this marvel…

This museum combo deal required more than a bit of walking, so off I went to the Literature Museum. Like the Papyrus Museum (wildly unlike the State Hall), the Lit. Mus. was unattended. It was cool, I guess, but I was in & out. Maybe it was the all German thing? Anywayz, some pix…

The walk to the next museum was even longer, but took me through a nice neighborhood with an agglomeration of antique stores. Participate with me in some window shopping…

Here are some pix of/in the majestic building that contains the Sisi Museum and the Spanish Riding School…

Eventually I found the building that contained two more small museums. First up, the Esperanto Museum. Just so you know, Esperanto has been an attempt at a universal – international language. Nice idea! This was the smallest of them all…

In the same building was the Globe Musuem. Join me in walking around…

There was more at the Hofburg, but I bounced over to the Museum of Natural History. I think it might’ve been field trip day, ’cause it was packed. This first batch is all about minerals and such…

Next up, a random collection of birds, butterflies, and fishes. In the midst of this batch there are a couple of very small figurines that are quite old. The fat one is called Venus. The painted skull is another compelling antiquity. Preserve yourself…

The statue dude is Carl Von Linné (Linnaeus), famous for botanical taxonomy (binomial nomenclature). Other pix depict the grandeur of the building and students drawing the animals on display (display the art of taxidermy). Lotsa critters (perhaps not a one left out!)…

Then, I walked across Maria-Theresien-Platz to the Kunsthistorisches Museum. The line had been too long early in the day. And now I know why. It rivals the Louvre for quantity and quality of artworks, and is a testimony to the noble excellence (?) of the Habsburg Monarchy (not to mention the perils of inbreeding). First off, I went to see the special exhibit of Arcimboldo, Bassano, & Breugel, since I’m a particular fan of the former and his paintings of people made of other things. There were only about a half dozen of these paintings, but still so worth it. There’s other stuff in this batch, but I saved the best for last…

In fact, Breugel has his own room in this museum, but it’s one of dozens. The top floor is mostly paintings, as is this batch. Perhaps you can guess at what I like? In any case, this is a mere sample of the abundance therein…

The paintings continue, including his majesty’s, and other notable nobles, etc…

Down stairs (and I should have started in the other direction if I’d wanted to be chronological), the artworks turn to objects – 3D – sculpture, reliefs, ceramics, metalwork, tapestries, furniture, etc.

This batch starts with carved ivory, gruesomely beautiful. It includes waxworks, small intricate pieces, jewelry, and more…

Eventually, the rooms became full of antiquities from Rome, Greece, Egypt, and elsewhere. Tragic proof that other parts of the world have been looted. There was even an old film about the care taken in shipping huge ancient artifacts to Austria. Having just been in Egypt, it’s apparent that the royals and rich took the good stuff. It’s also apparent that these civilizations, dynasties, and empires have been doing their thing for centuries. There’s just so much…!