Page 33 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide 2016 - Austria

A POR TR AIT OF A USTRIA  31

The octagonal The Vienna State Opera House
layout of the top (see p96), conceived by August
storey of the tower von Siccardsburg and Eduard
is a typical feature of van der Nüll, was completed in
the Lombardy style.
1869. Its façade and interior,
particularly the auditorium, the
foyer and the grand staircase,
are examples of the opulence,
ornamentation and pomposity
typical of 19th-century
Statues of Austrian architecture.
Moses and
Elijah
Oval tower
windows serve to
amplify the sound
of the bells.

Melk is one of the most famous Benedictine abbeys and the
largest surviving abbey complex in Europe. The spectacular
Baroque abbey was designed by Jakob Prandtauer (see pp146–7).

Friedensreich
Hundertwasser
Hundertwasser (1928–2000)
was a highly successful painter,
graphic designer and architect.
Vast clock faces He was born Friedrich Stowasser,
but adopted a new name while
studying at the Academy of Fine
Arts in Vienna. His decorative style
Salzburger Dom of painting was close to that of
abstract artists, with subject matter
The cathedral, begun in 1614 often associated with the natural
to a design by Santino Solari environment. His buildings
and finished in 1657, is one of the (see pp108–109) are distinguished
earliest twin-towered churches of by their highly experimental,
the modern era found anywhere extravagant shapes, combining The Bad Blumau resort complex
north of the Alps. It is also the colourful new architectural ideas (see p174)
earliest and most magnificent with the artist’s vision of structures
example of the Early Baroque that blend with the natural environment. Irregular in shape,
style in the entire Danube region they employ a variety of unusual materials, including ceramics.
(see p224).

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