From border garrison of the Roman Empire to magnificent Baroque
seat of the Habsburgs, Vienna's fortunes swung between survival and
expansion. By the late nineteenth century it had become the western
capital of the sprawling Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, but the
twentieth century saw it degraded to a "hydrocephalus" cut off from
its former economic hinterland. After the inglorious Nazi
interlude, Vienna escaped from four-power-occupation in 1955 and
began the long climb back to the prosperous and cultivated city of
1.7 million inhabitants that it is today. Even as a metropolis,
Vienna always retained a sense of intimacy, and sometimes of
intellectual and spiritual claustrophobia. This "village" has been
a crucible of creativity from the glittering arts and music of
Habsburg and noble patronage to the libidinous hothouse of Freud's
fin-de-siecle society, with all its brilliance and ambivalence.
Subjected to constant infusions of new blood from the Empire, and
now from the former imperial territories and beyond, Vienna has
both assimilated and resisted cultural influences from outside,
creating its own sui generis culture. DUCAL AND IMPERIAL CITY:
Magnet for genius in architecture, the fine arts, music,
literature, as well as administration. "Viennese by choice" - a
notion that includes Walther von der Vogelweide, Metastasio,
Salieri, Gluck, Mozart, Beethoven, Van Swieten, Metternich, Theodor
Herzl and Karl Kraus - to name but a few. CITY OF SURVIVORS: a
civilization submerged in waves of migrating tribes, a buffer town
between the German Emperor's territories and rival Slavs or
Magyars; finally the bulwark of Christianity in resistance to
Ottoman expansion over three centuries up to 1683. And in the Cold
War, a neutral space for spies and diplomats between competing
power blocs. CITY OF PAST AND PRESENT: Loden coats and laptops,
progressive politics and reactionary piety, ancient rituals (slow
food in the Heurigen and Beisln, Sunday walks in the Wienerwald or
Schonbrunn Park) and modern rhythms in lifestyle and work.
General
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