Do you see that 'golden dome' off in the distance? That's the Kirche (church) am Steinhof and that is where we're headed - luck you!
Look at those beautiful flowering trees...
Pretty tree.....
Pretty flowers.....
More pretty flowers....
Beautiful, pretty flowers....
LOTS of pretty flowers....oh...sorry...I got side-tracked ;) Yes, that golden dome in the background...right away (stay focused, Aaron! Stay focused!)
Peek-a-boo! :)
The Kirche am Steinhof (also called the Church of St. Leopold) in Vienna is one of the most famous Art Nouveau churches in the world! Are you excited yet?
The church, situated 1017 ft above sea level, dominates and forms part of the Steinhof Psychiatric Hospital. It was built in 1903-1907 by the 63-year-old architect Otto Wagner, with mosaics and stained glass by Koloman Moser, and sculptural angels by Othmar Schimkowitz (1864 - 1947). The great majority of the other smaller details are the work of Otto Wagner himself. The statues on the two external towers represent Saint Leopold and Saint Severin (l. & r. respectively: they are the two patron saints of Lower Austria) and are the work of the Viennese sculptor Richard Luksch (1872 - 1936).
Here is a pic from the concert the other night, just to remind you what the inside looks like (the Church was closed when I took the 'day' photos). Otto Wagner incorporated numerous features specifically related to its function within an asylum: e.g. there are very few sharp edges, and most corners are rounded; almost no crosses are visible; the priest's area is potentially entirely separate from the patients'; access to the pulpit is only from the vestry; emergency exits are built into the side walls in case a patient needed to be speedily removed; continuously flowing water replaced holy water stoups at the entrance; there were separate entrances for male and female patients; confessionals were more open than is customary. There were toilet facilities easily accessible within the church in case of patient need. Originally the pews were of different widths to accommodate different categories of patient: calm / restless / disturbed (the latter needing more space).
The 'east-facing' windows....
And I just thought this was 'cool'! The 'Egyptian' 4 Evangelists on the roof 'surrounding' the lamp...
Looks almost more like a 'theatre' to me in some ways....
I thought the angels were awesome!
See how 'different' they are? I just thought 'wow!' at the creativity of it all...
The shaded side, too dark, sorry...
Here is Leopold Steiner. He apparently is the guy who was given credit for constructing/designing the hospital complex...me confused though, cuz Otto Wagner is the one who designed it...
Anyway...
Now on to 'sadder' tales if you will....
This is a memorial to the victims who were killed here during the Nazi 'occupation' of Austria....
We'll talk about them in the next post...
