Sonja Krivokapic

Vienna – the gentle dance of the old and the contemporary That morning my mother and I were so excited that we are finally traveling to Vienna, the capital of Austria. Both she and I have been in the city before, but it faded from our memory. Upon talking about the city, some pictures of Vienna would fill our heads, but we both felt like those were somehow taken out from our experience; they didn't conjure up any feelings, they were just a disconnected memory. So we went to regain that lost experience and pretty soon we were in a bus waiting for it to hit the road. The trip was short because we were excited about arriving at Vienna. And we arrived pretty fast, or at least it seemed that way to us. The first thing we saw the Hundertwasser House in Vienna. When people think about the city, they think of Mozart and extremely fine coffee, but Hundertwasser House is also something that's really Viennese. It's a relatively tall building with such recognizable colorfulness and style that you simply have to stand in front of it and gaze. The Austrian painter and architect Friedensreich Hundertwasser is known for his unique style, which includes wavy design of both exterior and interior of his buildings instead of a flat surface – when you are inside it, you walk on the wavy floor and lean against a wavy wall. Later we saw his unique designs everywhere – in pictures that were hung on walls in cafes, stores that exclusively adopted his style, postcards that had his designs, etc. Source: https://www.wien.info/en/sightseeing/sights/hundertwasser-house-vienna It was a hot spring day in Vienna, so we could feel and see the city embracing its citizens and tourists more openly. When we started walking through Vienna, we figured out that the capital of Austria was still all wrapped up in Mozarts memorabilia. Mozart chocolate balls, his music in shops and cafes, and stores that sold clothes similar to those which was worn in the days when Mozart walked the streets of Vienna. With our modern start with Hundertwasser, we wanted to visit Mozart's monument to blend with the easy flow of modern and the old that makes today's Vienna. Mozart's monument is located in Burgatten, probably the most interesting park in Vienna. The emperor Franz Joseph 1. completed the park in 1819 and presented it to the public. It would be exactly there that the emperor's monument will meet with Mozart's after his death in 1916. The reason why this park is so interesting is because of an additional touch to Mozart's monument in the form of a giant G- clef made from red flowers that lay gracefully on the grass before the monument. There is another point of meeting with the old – the monument of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, one of the greatest names in the history of German and possible of the world literature, which is located near the monuments of the two famous historical figures. Source: http://www.aviewoncities.com/gallery/showpicture.htm?key=kveat0539 Source: http://www.panoramio.com/photo/52835840 There are certainly a lot of cultural heritage that belongs to the old Vienna, and my mother and I wanted to see at least some of them. One of those is a palace located a little bit outside of the center, so we had to take the U- Bahn, a rapid transit railway, to see it. I'm talking about the magnificent Schönbrunn Palace, a 300-year-old home of various rulers and the birthplace of Franz Joseph 1., who was the longest- reigning emperor in Austria. Shorty after he died, the downfall of Habsburg monarchy happened and the palace was turned into a museum which we had the opportunity to look at, take a picture of and admire its magnificence. The name Schönbrunn means „beautiful spring“, and we thought that our spring day made us closer to the history of this palace. Nevertheless, I didn't understand how people could have actually lived in this huge palace, when we now live in houses and apartments. But this wall between their world and mine, I thought, is what made me admire this far away culture even more. Source: https://www.schoenbrunn.at/en/about-schoenbrunn/the-palace/ Next on the stop was the Austrian Parliament Building in Vienna, because we wanted to stay in this far away world a little bit longer. This portion of the culture of Vienna was probably the most significant point in which the old and the contemporary met. Built in the classical style of Greek architecture as a token of appreciation towards democracy, the contemporary members of parliament still use it to this day. It's big, monumental and beautiful, and it certainly deserves a lot of respect and admiration. Source: http://www.docbrown.info/docspics/europe/austria02.htm This ancient touch made us admire some of the modern buildings we encountered later even more, like the Vienna University of Economics and Business', the Europe's largest business university campus. Its architecture style couldn't be more modern – the building has a huge black cantilevered roof that extends towards the square, placed on a white concrete block creating a sharp contrast between the two. It's solid, impressive and monumental, and you certainly feel the desire to look what's inside. Source: http://inspirationist.net/colorful-furnishing-by-stua-brights-up-zaha-hadids-vienna-university-of-economics-and-business/ The beautiful MuseumsQuartier was our last stop, and there again we found the relationship between the old and the contemporary life alive and well in the form of a unique architectural and artistic conjuction. This is where the culture happens everywhere you look –inside of the museum and outside in the courtyard, where you can run into readings, dance performances, exhibitions and lots of other things. In front of and inside of this blend between the 400 – meter Baroque facade and the contemporary museum architecture is where we are reminded of the Impressionists and Expressionists as well as of the artists of the today. Source: https://www.wien.info/en/lifestyle-scene/summer-in-the-museumsquartier Before we went back from our short trip, we sat down at a cafe in the MuseumsQuartier complex. We were eager to ask the kind waiter about this relationship between the old and the modern, and he responded like it's the most natural thing in the world, saying that the citizens of Vienna have a habit of celebrating the past and looking forward to the future. When we heard this, my mother and I realized that this trip was not just about sightseeing, but also about learning about life. And when you have achieved this goal, I think you can tell that the trip was really worthwhile.