If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 191

Belvedere Palace, Vienna, Austria

Recently my French friend visited Belvedere Castle in Vienna, Austria, and sent this beautiful postcard above.  The pond in front of the castle shows a perfect reflection of this pretty castle.

The historic building complex has two palaces, Upper and Lower Belvedere (Upper Belvedere is featured on the card) linked by a park-like garden with fountains, flowers and sculptures.  Today the inside of Upper Belvedere is home to the Austrian gallery and a collection that covers Austrian art from the Middle Ages to Baroque, 19th century Biedermeier (Waldmüller), the Ringstraße time and turn of the century art such as Klimt, Schiele, and Kokoschka.  The Orangery exhibits of contemporary art can be found in Lower Belvedere. 

Prince Eugene of Savoy had the palaces built on land he purchased in 1697 as a summer residence and commissioned architect Johann Lukas von Hildebrandt to design the project.  Hildebrandt was subsequently employed as the court architect and designed several other notable buildings such as the Schloss Hof Palace, the Schwarzenberg Palace, the Kinsky Palace, and the entire Göttweig Monastery estate in the Wachau Valley. 

The area surrounding Belvedere was completely undeveloped at the time the project started making it ideal for constructing landscaped gardens and the summer palace.  Construction began between 1712 and 1717 and was completed by 1723.  After Prince Eugene died without a legally binding will a commission set up by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI named the prince’s niece, Princess Victoria, as his heir.  The princess moved into Belvedere in 1736 but immediately decided to auction it off as soon as possible.  It was 8 years later before Maria Theresa, the daughter of Charles VI, was able to purchase the estate.  The palace was eclipsed by other imperial palaces and not used until 1770 when a masked ball was staged here for the marriage of Maria Antonia to the French Dauphin who later became Louis XVI.  To provide some example of the size of the palace the guest list had 16,000 members.

Both palaces suffered considerable damage during World War II with parts of the Marble Hall in Upper Belvedere and the Hall of Grotesques in Lower Belvedere destroyed by bombs.  Reconstruction work was commenced following the end of the war and both palace galleries were open in 1953. 

Last summer when we were in Austria we visited Belvedere and here follow some photos from that trip showing the gardens and the outside of the palaces.

 The gardens reminded me of Versailles in France with the long walkway and statues, pools, and fountains.  The tall spire of St. Stephen's Cathedral can be seen at the left.  Lower Belvedere is the white palace with red roof at the right.  The city tour bus recommended by our hotel dropped us off at Belvedere and we were urged to take the metro back to the hotel but elected to walk instead so we could visit the Cathedral and any other places of interest on the return trip.  Bob estimated the walk was about 4 or 5 US miles as it took us most of the afternoon.

 Look back up the hill toward Upper Belvedere.

 And back down the hill toward Lower Belvedere.

The stamp on the postcard has a reproduction of a painting by Bernardo Strozzi (ca 1581-1644) a prominent, prolific Italian Baroque painter.   Strozzi was born in Genoa but was also associated with Venice.  When he was about 17 years old he entered a monastery but left there after his father died, in about 1608, to take care of his mother.  He earned a living by his painting.  Many of the subjects of his paintings reflect his Franciscan education.  After his mother died in 1630 he was pressured by the court to re-enter the monastery and was briefly imprisoned in Genoa.  Upon his release from prison he fled to Venice to avoid confinement in a monastery.  He was nicknamed “the Genoa priest.”

For additional information, see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belvedere,_Vienna
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernardo_Strozzi

If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 165

Hallstatt, shown on the postcard above, is a small picturesque town approximately a two-hour or less drive from Salzburg, Austria.  We were absolutely stunned by the beauty of this place with the lake, mountains, and traditional Austrian alpine buildings.  A scenic delight for the traveler.  This region was historically very wealthy because of the discovery of salt.  Salt was used as a preservative as well as a seasoning and a valuable commodity.  We did not do it but it is possible to tour the mine located above the main area of the city.   A pipeline to transport the salt brine to Ebensee was built 400 years ago from 13,000 hollowed out trees.  Salt production still plays an important part in the economy of the village, as does tourism. 

 Until 1890 it was only possible to reach Hallstatt by boat or narrow mountain trails.  There are two parking lots accessed by tunnel under the mountain behind the town.  The village itself has only narrow lanes for pedestrians and a few delivery vehicles and local residents. 

 There are still boat tours across the lake

 

 

We saw several swans in the lake and even boats like the one above that look like swans big enough for small groups of people but these are more for recreation than necessity. 

 

Notice the steep stairway on the left side of the photo above

The houses and buildings look like they are stacked one upon another and cling precariously to the mountainside using what seems like every available inch of land.  Many dwellings can only be reached by very steep stairways.  We climbed up and down the stairs to get better views of the lake, the village and the churches.   At one time there was a fire here that destroyed several buildings and in remembrance of the event, the lives and property lost the building where the fire started is always painted red.  Many of the other buildings are painted pastel colors or are natural wood.  Almost all had flower or window boxes.  One house had old hand tools hung on the outside walls.  And for those who have heard the song “Edelweiss” from the movie “The Sound of Music” and never seen the blossom we spotted a basket of them with an identifying sign in front of a small shop. 

 

 

Because of the topography there is limited burial space requiring bones to be exhumed every ten years or so and placed in an ossuary to make room for new burials.  Although we did not visit it, the ossuary is open for tours and has a collection of decorated skulls with names, professions, death dates on display.  

 

We planned to return to the hotel in Salzburg that evening so we chose to visit the museum and get an overview of the culture, growth, and history rather than do separate tours of the ossuary and the salt mine. Iron Age Hallstatt is a World Heritage Site for Cultural Heritage.

In the museum we saw displays depicting how the people lived and worked here from about 7,000 years ago until the present time.  There have been several mine disasters some that necessitated the closure of selected tunnels.  At one time a large mudslide came down the mountain and into the mine tunnels filling everything. Fortunately not many workers were in the mine at the time of the slide.   Artifacts have been recovered including shoes, tools, and even bodies that were preserved by the salt and mud.  The systematic method used in Hallstatt to recover items of archeological significance is now also employed elsewhere.

Edelweiss

For additional information, see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallstatt

If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 163

During our stay in Salzburg, Austria we walked from the hotel to the Mirabel Gardens several times and even attended a concert in the palace one evening.  The gardens are lovely with new things opening up daily so there were surprises and delights with each visit.  The photo on the card was taken from the gardens looking toward the castle that was featured in a previous postcard Thursday.  Hans-Jörg Murenwald, Edition Murenwald bei Colorama, took the picture. 

The palace and gardens are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and are part of the historic central area of Salzburg.  The Prince-Archbishop Wolf Dietrich Raitenau had the palace built in 1606.   The name Mirabel was attached in 1612 and comes from the Italian mirabile, bella meaning amazing or wonderful.  The palace has undergone several changes, for example in 1710 it was rebuilt in a Baroque style and in 1818 it was restored to a Neoclassical style following a fire.  The gardens are arranged in geometric patterns with statues from mythology, some dating as early as 1690.  The rose garden is shown in the foreground of the postcard photo.

Salzburg is known for being the birthplace of Mozart and also as the “Sound of Music” city with parts of the movie filmed at Mirabel.  The palace and gardens are also popular locations for weddings.

Looking toward the palace from the entry into the gardens

Garden flowers

Looking the opposite direction toward the castle fortress on the hill

Tree lined pathway with convenient benches

Mimes or living statues stood at this corner in the garden.  They did move and pose with visitors but for extremely long periods of time they simply stood like a statue. 

Musicians like this man playing the harp were here everyday near a small outdoor café.  Each day someone is playing a different instrument. 

The fountain seen in the movie “Sound of Music”

Rose Garden

Trees trained to grow on the trellis form a covered shady arbor to walk through on a warm sunny day

From a outdoor balcony looking toward the hill and the castle

Inside the palace . . .

The evening concerts at the palace are held in this room

The grand staircase

By evening light . . .

For more about Mirabel see: 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirabell_Palace