Update 25 August 2012: One of my knowledgeable readers informed me of a very dark incident that happened in 1927 at this building—the Palace of Justice—in which many people were killed. You can see his comment, below. He also suggested in a more recent post that I provide a link to the Wikipedia article, however as the translation to that article as of late August 2012 is not so good, please read the story from a fellow blogger who, while he doesn't share my enthusiasm for the architecture of the building, has a good account of the massacre. I appreciate the input of my readers very much, especially when they add to my understanding of this city...so thank you, Walter.
There are thousands of gorgeous buildings in Vienna. Here's just one...and this is the back side!
Amazing details in these columns:
The beautiful street signs reference an earlier age.
Lions guard the front of this grand edifice. The Natural History Museum (my favorite!) is is the background.
Even the eaves are beautiful!
Dear Martha, many thanks for your gorgeous blog and the wunderful
ReplyDeletefotos you're posting. I'm viennese by birth, and I can help thinking of
the very sinister events that ocurred precisely in and around the "Very
beautiful building" you're featuring in your last entry. It's the "Justizpalast"
of somber memory. It all happened on July 15th, 1927. That day, thousands of workers protested against a shameful verdict, which freed four right-wing
thugs of all culpability for having shot an mutiled veteran and a 12-year old boy in Schattendorf ( Burgenland ). The spontaneous protest derived into riots, mounted police attacked the protesters with sabres, the idignated workers went berserk, stormed the palace and put fire to the police-station inside. The rioteers wouldn't let the fire brigade in, more police arrived, armed with rifles, and they used those weapons deliberately:
more than 90 dead was the final result. You'll find all this more detailed in wiki, there's even historical footage of the fighting in youtube.
The Justizpalast burnt to ashes, and with it all documentation of the
trials, which were stocked there. Afterwards it was rebuilt, but not the
original roof: they added rather clumsily another floor on top. But the
rest is as it was in the 19th century.
If you happen to be allowed inside, you'll find a very gorgeous staircase.
Have a fine summer, but keep posting!
walter marder,reo - reokomix.blogspot.co.at
Dear Walter,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for the history lesson. I did not have any knowledge about those incidents but now will do some research. It never ceases to amaze me that people can do terrible things when they are surrounded by natural and human-made beauty.
P.S. I look forward to exploring your cool blogsite further.
By the way, there was another post I did from Florence, Italy about a statement from a hotel owner who said, "When the mind turns to beauty, transformation happens." You can see it here: http://marthasvienna.blogspot.co.at/2011/01/when-mind-turns-to-beauty.html
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