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Located in the centre of Europe, Vienna is both a bustling metropolis and a city known for its coffee houses, historic districts, beautiful parks, elegant squares and romantic courtyards.
Vienna means cafe culture, music and wine. Where else can one so contentedly spend all day sitting in a cafe, reading a magazine, sipping a Viennese coffee or quaffing a glass or two of vino?
Roman Vindobona, founded in the year 15 CE, was completely levelled by the Germanic migrations of the fourth and fifth centuries. With the Roman legions long gone, only a small settlement remained. The name Vindobona is likely a version of the Celtic “Vedunia”, which means “torrent”, a reference to the settlement’s position on the banks of the famous Danube River.
Vienna was a city of doubtful repute at the end of the twelfth century. Its ruler, Duke Leopold V, was involved in the abduction of the English king, Richard Lionheart, on his way back from the Crusades. The two noblemen had butted heads during the Third Crusade.
Forced to stop in Vienna, Richard was recognised and arrested. An enormous ransom was paid for his freedom, roughly twenty five tons of silver, an enormous sum for those days. The duke used the silver to found a mint, the vast profits from which enabled him to grow the city and build new fortifications. Although Emperor Henry VI had given his blessing to the duke’s illegal activities, the pope had not, and in 1194 Leopold V was excommunicated.
The first version of Vienna’s cathedral was completed in 1147 as a small parish church, and was far too large for the tiny population of Vienna at that time. The city would not become important for another ten years, after it was named capital of the Duchy of Austria. A hundred years later, the original church was replaced by one built in the Romanesque style. Its facade, known as the Roman Towers, was preserved when construction of a Gothic church began in 1340.
In 1359, Duke Rudolf IV laid the cornerstone for the soaring Gothic nave, which was completed in 1474. Vienna’s early dukes had not been successful in elevating the town to a bishop’s see, which was necessary for St. Stephen’s to be declared a cathedral; it had always been simply a church within the diocese of Passau. It did not become the seat of a bishop, and thus formally a cathedral, until 1469. St. Stephen’s has undergone many changes since then. As tastes changed, the interior and exterior were mofified to reflect the times. Recent restoration has uncovered traces of older versions of Vienna’s beloved “Steffl”, as the church is known locally.
The sixteenth century was very much focused on rebuilding Vienna’s fortifications, which had been damaged during the Turkish siege of 1529. Work was not quite finished when the Turks returned in 1684. They were stopped just outside Vienna, the gateway to Europe, and never got that far again. Bombardment from Turkish positions in what is today the Wienerwald (”Vienna Woods”) left the city badly damaged in the wake of the Turkish retreat.
Rebuilding Vienna brought a large number of baroque architects to the city. The most outstanding constructions from that era are noble and royal residences, including the Schonbrunn, Liechtenstein, Schwarzenberg and Belvedere Palaces.
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Almost everyone who comes to Copenhagen visits the little mermaid harbour. Hans Christian Andersen’s popular story is about a young mermaid willing to give up her life in the sea and her identity as a merperson to gain a human soul and the love of a human prince.
Love is impulsive. In the end, the unhappy mermaid looks on mutely as her beloved abandons her in favour of a princess. In Andersen’s fairy tale, the little mermaid throws herself into the sea, dissolving in the waves. Today, the bronze mermaid cast by Eric Eriksen sits on a rock on the harbour.
Vandals have attacked the statue on several occasions, but luckily, city officials keep the original bronze moulds in a secure location. Identical replacement parts are always available.
When Denmark became a kingdom in the tenth century, what would later become the great city of Copenhagen was a small, non-descript fishing hamlet named Havn. Located at the entrance to the Baltic Sea, its central location attracted the attention of the Danish crown. Recent archeological finds indicate that by the 11th century, Copenhagen had already grown into a small town with a large estate, a church, a market, at least two water wells and many smaller habitations spread over a fairly wide area.
Havn was transformed virtually overnight into an important business hub. The building of Slotsholm Fortress in 1167 is usually said to mark the city’s founding. Three years later, Copenhagen was given its current name, which in Danish means “merchant’s harbour”. In 1443, the emergent city became the official capital of the Kalmar Union of Denmark, Norway and Sweden. When the union disbanded in 1523 it became capital of the Kingdom of Denmark.
Amalienborg, the famous winter palace of the Danish royal family, stands on a broad, paved, octagonal plaza. Four nearly identical palaces were built along the four diagonal sides of the octagon. At the centre of this beautiful rococo complex, one of the loveliest in Europe, is an equestrian monument honouring King Frederik V. A changing of the guard takes place outside the palaces each noon.
The best view of the Old City of Copenhagen may be from the wide platform on top of the Round Tower. Although the tower is only 36 metres high, the spiral staircase to the top winds around 209 metres. It was once possible to ride to the top on horseback, as Peter the Great did when he visited.
Unfortunately, horses are now banned from the tower. Trinity Church is adjacent to the tower, with the shopping districts of Stroget and Straedet nearby. Most of the Old City is off limits to vehicles, making it one of Europe’s biggest pedestrian zones. Christiansborg Palace is on the small island of Slotsholm, the site of the original fortress, which is today joined to the rest of the city by several bridges.
The palace was once home to the Danish royal family, and is now the seat of the Danish government and its parliament, the Folketing. This is the sixth building to stand here since the 1167 founding of the city. Invading armies, fires and modernization have all taken their toll. While the first castle on the site stood from 1417 into the late eighteenth century, rebuilding and renovation has been fast and furious ever since.
The present Christiansborg was built in the early twentieth century. Accessible from every quarter of the city, Tivoli Gardens amusement park first opened on 15 August 1843. Visitors can take a trip in a small boat on the moats once used for Copenhagen’s defense or take a pleasant ride on the big wheel looking down at the city from on high. It has a new, zero-G roller coaster (”the Demon”) and twenty-five other rides, as well as many restaurants and concert venues.
The mime presentations in the Pantomimes are extremely popular. After 150 years of continuous operation, neon signs are still banned in Tivoli. Instead, more than 110,000 incandescent lanterns brilliantly illuminate one of Europe’s oldest surviving pleasure gardens. The white bulbs hung from trees contribute to Tivoli’s uniquely old-fashioned atmosphere, even as the roller coaster hurtles by.
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