Page 98 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide 2016 - Austria

96  VIENNA AREA B Y AREA

Mahler, Richard Strauss and
Herbert von Karajan.
Each year, on the last
Thursday of Carnival, the stage
is extended to create a vast
dance floor for the Vienna
Opera Ball. This prestigious
high-society event opens
when Vienna’s youth – well-
to-do girls clad in white and
their smartly dressed escorts –
take to the floor.
3 Academy
of Fine Arts
The imposing building of the Vienna State Opera House Schillerplatz 3. Map 4 C1. Tel 588 16
1 Hotel Sacher 2 Staatsoper 22 22. % Karlsplatz. v 1, 2, 71, D.
@ 57A, 59A. Open 10am–6pm Tue–
Philharmonikerstrasse 4. Map 2 B5. Opernring 2. Map 2 B5. Tel 51 444- Sun and public holidays. Closed 1 Jan,
Tel 51 45 60. % Karlsplatz. v 1, 2, 71, 2250. % Karlsplatz. v 1, 2, 71, D. 1 May, 24, 25, 31 Dec.
D. @ 2A. ∑ sacher.com @ 2A. ∑ wiener-staatsoper.at ∑ akademiegalerie.at
The Hotel Sacher is one of the In May 1869, when Vienna’s The Academy of Fine Arts
“must-see” places in Vienna. State Opera House opened to is not only an educational
It was founded by the son of the strains of Mozart’s Don establishment, but also one
Franz Sacher, who was said Giovanni, music lovers rejoiced of the finest galleries of Old
to have created the famous that it would no longer be Masters. It was built in 1872–6,
Sachertorte in 1832. Although necessary to travel to Paris in by Theophil Hansen, as a school
this cake can now be bought order to hear good opera. Built and museum. In 1907, Adolf
in any café, the genuine article in Neo-Renaissance style, the Hitler applied to be admitted
is still the best. Opera House initially failed to but was refused a place on the
The hotel came into its impress the Viennese. The grounds that he lacked talent.
own under Anna Sacher, the distressed interior designer, Today, the gallery shows
founder’s cigar-smoking Eduard van der Nüll, committed changing exhibitions. Its pride
daughter-in-law, who ran suicide, and two months later, is late-Gothic and early-
the hotel from 1892 until her the architect, August Sicard Renaissance works, including
death in 1930. She collected von Sicardsburg, also died. Yet, some pieces by Rubens, a
autographs, and, to this day, a when the opera was hit by an winged altarpiece by Hieronymus
vast white tablecloth signed allied bomb in 1945, the event Bosch depicting the Last
by Emperor Franz Joseph I is was seen as a symbolic blow Judgement and works by Titian,
on display. During her time, to the city. With a new state-of- Cranach and Botticelli. It also
the Sacher became a venue the-art auditorium and stage, has some 17th-century Dutch
for the extra-marital affairs of the Opera House eventually and Flemish landscapes and
the rich and noble. It is still a reopened on 5 November an Austrian collection.
discreetly sumptuous hotel 1955 with a performance of
with red velvet sofas, draped Beethoven’s Fidelio. Its illustrious 4 Secession
curtains and stylish furniture. directors have included Gustav
Building
Otto Wagner (1841–1918) Friedrichstrasse 12. Map 4 C1.
Tel 58 75 307. % Karlsplatz. v 1, 2,
The most prominent architect at the turn of 62, 71, D. @ 57A, 59A. Open 10am–
the 20th century, Wagner studied in Vienna 6pm Tue–Sun & hols. Closed 25 Dec.
and Berlin. Initially, he was associated with & ∑ secession.at
the historicist style, but in time he became
the foremost representative of the Austrian The unusual Secession Building
Secession. He prepared plans for the re-routing was designed in Jugendstil style
of the Wien river and the modernization of by Joseph Maria Olbrich, as a
the town’s transport system. His most outstand ing showcase for the Secessionist
works include the Majolikahaus (see Naschmarkt, artists, including Gustav Klimt,
opposite), train stations (see p100), the Post Office Koloman Moser and Otto Wagner,
Savings Bank building, a hospital and the Kirche Detail of Otto
am Steinhof (see p112). Wagner’s design who broke away from Vienna’s
traditional art scene. The almost
windowless building, with its
For hotels and restaurants in this area see pp293–4 and pp313–14

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