Vienna was, for over six hundred years, the imperial city of the Habsburgs. Its rulers were frequently elected Holy Roman Emperor and by the 16th century Habsburg rule had – through advantageous marriages – extended to Bohemia, Hungary, the Low Countries, Burgundy, Spain and the New World (even briefly to England through Philip II of Spain’s marriage to Mary Tudor).
The late 17th century saw the final expiry of the Ottoman Turks’ aspirations to take Vienna as a prize for Islam. With the removal of the threat, a grandiose building programme ensued that produced the flamboyant Baroque palaces, churches and civic buildings that defined Vienna’s imperial identity. Habsburg power and the city’s sense of self-importance not only created sumptuous buildings but resulted in the best art works from its territories being brought into Vienna’s imperial collections.
Vienna, as the centre of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, was by the turn of the 20th century the fourth largest city in Europe with a population of two million people. Much of the city had been reshaped and it attracted entrepreneurs and intellectuals from across its empire; some aspired to join the highly conservative haute-bourgeoisie of Viennese society while others discovered a mind-set ripe for innovative, avant-garde ideas. Thus into turn-of-the-century traditional Vienna, Jugendstil and modernism found a foothold which blossomed in the faltering years before the Empire’s fall. It produced a remarkably rich creative outpouring in music and psychological thinking as well as in architecture and art – a legacy that excites visitors today.
The itinerary for this study tour will cover Vienna’s treasures, from its Gothic cathedral, Baroque palaces and Jugendstil buildings to its Modernist edifices. It will also look at a magnificent selection of paintings ranging from the Renaissance to the 20th century.
Time will be factored in to allow for optional visits to the sumptuous museums in the Hofburg and the city’s other interesting museums. There will also be time to enjoy Vienna’s wonderful coffee houses.
The journey has been organised for members of the Arts Society, Goring. If you are not a member and would like to join the journey, please contact Distant Horizons for more information.
Party size is limited to 24 travellers.
Trip Leader: Mrs Nirvana Romell
Nirvana was born in Croatia. After graduating from the University of Zagreb in Croatia with a degree in Art History (Western art and the arts and cultures of the western Balkans), and MA in English language and literature, she moved via South Africa to England, arriving in Cheshire in 2003. Since then, she has worked as a freelance lecturer on the history of Western art, giving numerous talks, leading workshops and accompanying tours of permanent and temporary exhibitions for organisations such as the Manchester Art Gallery, National Museums in Liverpool, the Arts Society, the Royal Geographical Society, University of Manchester and others. She has also designed and led cultural tours since 2005, including three very successful Art Society Goring journeys with Distant Horizons to Croatia, Friuli (Italy) and Provence.