The memorial is an inverted library - with the books on the outside. It commemorates the more than 65,000 Austrian Jews who were killed by the Nazis:
We also visited the ruins of the synagogue below but I didn't take pictures. In this synagogue, in 1420, 200 Jews commmitted suicide rather than submit to forced Baptism by the Viennese Christians. It was interesting to learn that this Judenplaz was the home of a very significant Jewish population in the 1400's. Of course, those Jews were blamed for anything bad that happened in Vienna.
We had a great lunch of Wiener Schnitzel:
Last nght we went to the most charming chamber concert of Mozartz and Strauss by The Vienna Residence Orchestra (the most famous chamber orchestra in Vienna.) In addition to the music, there were arias and dancing - waltz, Polka and ballet. It really was extraordinary and private for just our group. It took place in a gorgeous palace! They played a lot of favorites that we all recognized like - Blue Danube Waltz, Radetskymarch by Strauss abd the Overture to The Marriage of Figaro by Mozart. Loved it!
Visited a Jewish Cemetery this morning that dates back to the 1500. The cemetery stories are unreal! Before WW II, the Jewish community took down all the headstones, numbered them and moved them to another part of the city and hid them. It wasn't until 1980 that the city of Vienna got the old headstones and have tried to reconstruct the cemetery:
We learned today about a wonderful Jewish Austrian contempory artist named Friedensreich Hundertwasser, who as a young boy was baptized so he would be spared during the war. Influenced by the Spanish artish Gaudi, he designed a charming apartment block in Vienna, the hundertwasserhaus, which we visited. The building has uneven undulating floors and a roof covered with grass and trees.
Then we spent our free afternoon at the Upper Belevedere Museum where we enjoyed Gustav Klimt's famous painting The Kiss, among others:
In front of the Belevere:
Tomorrow: Off to Prague
No comments:
Post a Comment