Page 563 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Europe

VIENNA  561

2 Burgtheater
Universitätsring 2, A-1014. Tel 01-51444
4140.  Schottentor. v 1, 71, D.
Open for performances. Closed Good
Fri, Dec 24; Jul & Aug (exc for guided
tours). & 7 8 3pm daily (call
01-5144 44140). ∑ burgtheater.at
The Burgtheater is the most
prestigious stage in the
German-speaking world. The
original theater, built in Maria
Theresa’s reign, was replaced
in 1888 by today’s Italian
Renaissance-style building
by Karl von Hasenauer and Auditorium of the Staatsoper, the Vienna State Opera House
Gottfried Semper. It closed for
refurbishment in 1897 after the chapels are the result of the event was seen as a
discovery that several seats had rebuilding in the 14th and 15th symbolic blow to the city.
no view of the stage. At the end centuries, while some of the With a brand new auditorium
of World War II, a bomb outbuildings, such as the Lower and stage, the Opera House
devastated the building, leaving Vestry, are Baroque additions. reopened in November 1955
only the side wings containing The lofty vaulted interior with a performance of
the Grand Staircases intact. The contains an impressive Beethoven’s Fidelio.
restoration was so successful collection of works of art.
that today it is hard to tell the Masterpieces of Gothic 5 Naturhistorisches
new parts from the old. sculpture include the fabulously
intricate pulpit, several of the Museum
figures of saints adorning the Burgring 7, A-1014. Tel 01-52177 217.
piers, and the canopies over  Volkstheater. @ 48A. v 1, 2, 46,
many of the side altars. To the 49, 71, D. Open 9am–6:30pm Thu–
left of the High Altar is the Mon (to 9pm Wed). Closed Jan 1, May
15th-century winged Wiener 1, Nov 1, Dec 25. & 8 Wed & Sun
Neustädter Altar bearing the (rooftop). 7 ∑ nhm-wien.ac.at
painted images of 72 saints. The
altar panels open out to reveal Almost the mirror image of
delicate sculpture groups. The the Kunsthistorisches Museum,
most spectacular Renaissance the Natural History Museum
work is the tomb of Friedrich III, was designed by the same
while the High Altar adds a architects, and opened in
flamboyant Baroque note. 1889. Its collections include
archaeological, anthropological,
Detail from the Wiener Neustädter Altar in mineralogical, zoological, and
the Stephansdom 4 Staatsoper geological displays. There are
3 Stephansdom Opernring 2, A-1010. Tel 01-51444 casts of dinosaur skeletons, the
2250.  Karlsplatz. v 1, 2, 71, D. world’s largest display of skulls
Stephansplatz 3, A-1010. Tel 01-51552 Open for performances. & 7 8 illustrating the history of man,
3054.  Stephansplatz. @ 1A, 2A. by arrangement (call 51444-2613). one of Europe’s most
Open daily. 7 ∑ stephanskirche.at ∑ wiener-staatsoper.at comprehensive
collections of gems,
The Stephansdom, with its Vienna’s opera house, the prehistoric sculpture,
magnificent glazed-tile roof, is Staatsoper, was the first Bronze Age items,
the heart and soul of Vienna. It of the grand Ringstrasse and extinct birds
is no mere coincidence that the buildings to be and mammals. In
urns containing the entrails of completed; it opened the archaeological
some of the Habsburgs lie in a on May 25, 1869 to section, look out for
vault beneath its main altar. the strains of Mozart’s the celebrated Venus
A church has stood on the Don Giovanni. Built in of Willendorf, a
site for over 800 years, but all Neo-Renaissance style, 25,000-year-old
that remains of the original it initially failed to Palaeolithic fertility
13th-century Romanesque impress the Viennese. figurine, and finds from
church are the Giants’ Doorway Yet when it was hit by the early Iron Age
and Heathen Towers. The Gothic a bomb in 1945 and Venus of Willendorf, settlement at
nave, the choir, and the side largely destroyed, Naturhistorisches Museum Hallstatt (see p568).

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