The best season to visit Vienna, the capital of the European country Austria is undoubtedly autumn. Tourists are significantly less compared to the summer invasion or the Christmas market madness. Still, the size of the touristic crew does not determine the preference.
The real reason comes from the strange,“fall-from-grace” charm of Vienna. The past-glory nostalgia and the beauty in the face of coming death are common themes for both Vienna and the autumn season. Both grow on you against all the odds.
Vienna is the capital of Austria. AustrIA, Osterreich, not AustrELIA. People often confuse Austria with Australia. Lack of geographical knowledge could contribute to the mistake. Nevertheless, such an error shows Austria’s irrelevance to the world.
The state has approximately 84,000 square km (32,000 square mis) and a population around 9 million. In comparison, the sixth-largest country in the world, Australia, stretches over nearly 8 million square km and its population is just under 28 million.
It was not always this way for Austria. At the end of 19th century (1867-1914) Austria and Vienna lived their “Golden era” for almost 50 years.
In 1867 a new Austro-Hungarian Empire came into existence. The monarchy was dual and constitutional. Austria and Hungary existed as two separate, yet equal states governed by a single monarch from the Habsburg dynasty called Franz Joseph I.
Within the borders of the Empire were the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia, the modern day countries like the Czech Republic, Slovenia, some parts of nowadays Poland, Ukraine, Romania, Italy and Montenegro. The Empire embraced multiculturalism. The population spoke at least 15 different languages.
Vienna gathered momentum and turn into a megapolis, with a modern road infrastructure,
solid administration and mandatory education.
More importantly for me and the world Vienna became the cultural hub of Europe.
I wander why we strive to immerse into French Impressionism, Post Impressionism, Expressionism, Surrealism, etc, and forget about the “Secession” movement in Vienna.
This group gave the world unique creations of break-taking beauty. And yet, the Viennese “Secession” artists, architects, musicians and designers in Art Nouveau style remain relatively unknown.
Is it the language barrier or the irrelevance on large scale?
Let’s go back to the story of falling from grace and transition into irrelevance. Some historians rudely describe Austria as a “failure”.
The Empire did not manage the multiculturalism and the fight for national freedom well.
On 28th June 1914 the heir of the Austro-Hungarian throne Franz Ferdinand was assassinated by a Serbian nationalist.
The Empire declared war on Serbia. Russia immediately mobilised to support Serbia. Germany declared war on Russia and France. Britain declared war on Germany after they invaded neutral Belgium.
The local conflict escalated into a global war (1914-1918).
After WWI the Austro-Hungarian Empire no longer existed. Its “Golden era” was over and Austrians had to accept their fate of constantly explaining “ No, it is not Australia, it is Austria”.
Every cloud has a silver lining. In our case the art and beauty are saved for the world. The next post will be titled “The Viennese Secession”.
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