Austrian Tales. Spiritual Variety.

I overslept today and got to work earlier then usual. That’s a woman’s logic for you. I was concentrated so hard on my minimum set of routines that actually completed them all twice as faster then I would on a normal morning. Skipped the breakfast and that made up for a time lost to bed. Arrived to work in autopilot mode and realised I’m too early! Confused everyone. Ha ha…had to have an extra coffee to find my sanity back. The day is promising, judging by the beginning…

Austrian Tales.

When I saw Vienna in day light, she didn’t disappoint me either. Although, I have to admit, the night portrait of her made that special first impression and forever it will stay with me. Anyway, first day was dedicated to the orientation. Took a hop on hop off tour bus. Don’t bother if you are in Vienna for more then two days. The tour was so dull and basic; we didn’t even hop off en route. Later obviously we have managed to walk around all the places covered anyway. The city centre is a bit overcrowded, but that is natural for any city, isn’t it. The historical part is what people come to see. No one interested in the present, we tend to be nostalgic for the past. It’s all good, for I always say – if a site is too touristy, it means, it is worth seeing. That’s exactly why it is a famous site. In my travels I do not mind visiting “world’s famous” places. This is what the country is proud of and therefore I want to see it to understand this country better. I do not mean the attractions created specifically for entertaining. Zoos, amusement parks, themed “authentic” dinners are not on my “to see” list when I am travelling. But the landmarks, buildings, churches…they do tell a lot about people who used to live around.

Vienna’s famous cathedral is St Stephens. Allegedly the most important religious building in Austria's capital. The church that stood on the same place has been known from the middle of 12^th century. The construction lasted long enough for the Gothic style being phased out and the second tower that was meant to mirror the first one, has never been completed in the same high, neither style. Not a feature “by design”, but more by the lack of finance and I would imagine, lack of interest to invest more then needed. The glorious feature of St Stephen is by all means a richly coloured roof. The tiles pattern is of the double-headed eagle that is of course, a symbol of the Habsburg dynasty. (More of Habsburgs later, as they turned out to be a rather interesting bunch).

Personally, I did not like St Stephen’s. I found it to be “unchurchy”. More like museum and concert hall even. We went there once. It was overcrowded and gave an impression of a town covered market on a busy day. The huge LCD monitors hanged off the gothic columns to facilitate the sermons spoilt the image of a spiritual place. And the concert ticket sellers instead of beggars by the entrance door send the wrong vibes on entering the God’s Temple. We gave it another chance on another day and time, just in case it was an accidentally wrong one for visit. But although less crowded, the cathedral still didn’t bring peace to the soul. But I would still recommend to see it anyway, it is, after all, what is famous about Vienna. Of course now when I hear about famous St Stephens, I have my own personal snapshot of it and my own impression of its value.

Speaking of the churches…churches are compulsory attractions on a list of any tourist in any country of the world. Whenever you go, you usually see church. Even when you are not religious at all, you still would do it. Churches seem to be just about the only man-made structures that are never out of fashion. The architectural style can change over the centuries and it is normal that we do not make notice of what is built around us in our time. Yet we see the old building and we find it interesting. Because it is a reflection of our sentiments about the past. With time those sentiments tend to fade out and many are forgotten, neglected and left to ruins. But churches are those kind of buildings that are usually well kept, carefully preserved since the age of times. And we go visiting churches, monasteries and cathedrals because they are quite often out only way to get in touch with the past.

I said that Vienna’s most famous cathedral didn’t impress me much. However, there is another church in Vienna that took my breath away. Something that will stay in my memories associated with the Viennese spiritual history. It is St Peter’s church. More then just modest from outside.

It is a medieval church, but totally rebuilt in 17 century and now has become the finest example of Baroque style . It is truly a wonder, a very unexpected one too. At first we haven’t even noticed her, walking by few times, looking for other things. And even when we finally found ourselves standing in front of this unremarkable structure, we were hesitating if it is worth to go in. It was overwhelmingly beautiful. I think, the impression created as well by the contrast of “two worlds” It was truly as if we walked into another dimension and suddenly all the bustle of the outside world of mere mortals has become irrelevant. St Peter’s church is stunning. I have no other words to describe it. One can sit there hours just glazing over all the rich decorations. Gold and …gold…and more so. This was The Cathedral where you would want to come in reverence. If I was to choose, to me personally St Peter’s would have to be the main church of Vienna.

There are plenty of other God’s Houses in Austrian capital, I won’t mention them all. The words of two of them are enough to get a lasting impression of spiritual life of Vienna, past and present. However we visited plenty. I think, the pictures would be best way to show various styles of churches in Vienna. Of course, these are not all of them, as you can imagine.