Vienna's Prunksaal and Jesuitenkirche (POL)

I am writing this posting from Warsaw.  I arrived early this afternoon, settled in, then visited the Old Town, which is a recreation of the oldest part of the city of Warsaw which was leveled to the ground by the Nazis during World War II.  What a heroic city this is!  More on Warsaw when I finish with Vienna and Munich...

This posting will be entirely of photos from the National Library of Austria, the Prunksaal, (formerly, the Imperial Library) and the Jesuit Church, Jesuitenkirche, in Vienna.  I am going to violate my own rule of limiting photos on my postings because there two sites are beyond beautiful.  I have never seen a more impressive and elegant environment for a library collection; and the Jesuitenkirche rivals, in my opinion, the Church of the Gesu in Rome for its impressive Baroque style.  So without further ado, the photos of the Prunksaal and Jesuitenkirche...

A Latin inscription on a tablet at the entrance to the Prunksaal...just to let you know that you need to know Latin to be an educated person!

A section of the ceiling of the Prunksaal.

An entry gate at the Hofburg to the Treasury Rooms.

On the back exterior wall of the Stephansdom.

Jesuitenkirche

The pulpit

A possible relative of Bob Grimm, SJ (Oregon Province)?

More of Vienna....from Munich (GER)

Even though I am in Munich, I am posting photos from Vienna.  While sightseeing today, I made a major decision.   Since WIFI has been taking such a long time to upload photos, I am going to limit myself to 10 to 12 photos for each posting.  It will be difficult because on an average day I am taking at least 200 photos. I will play it by ear with each city I am in, but the only way to stay current is to limit the photos.  [This will not apply to Greece, since there are so many photos I want to share with you.]

I spent a wonderful day on Munich today.  The weather was overcast and cool, and so it was a perfect day to go to the major sites in the center of "old Munich," including the Jesuit church, Michaelskirche.  However, today's photos will be posted when I catch up.

I leave early tomorrow morning for Warsaw, then on to Lithuania on Tuesday.  Faster your seat belts, it is going to be at warp speed pretty soon!  Good thing I am young enough to keep the pace I have set for my travels!  If it is still Saturday, then I am in Munich.  But for now, photos of Vienna....

The performance ring of the Spanish Riding School where the white stallion Lipizzaners perform the equivalent of ballet movements!

Stairway inside the Hofburg, Imperial Palace, leading to the State Rooms.

A small part of the VERY impressive collection of gold, silver, and porcelain Imperial dinnerware service.  You really have to see it to believe the scale of what was kept in the Hofburg for dinner parties.

Augustinerkirche

Original tomb of Maria Christina, daughter of Empress Maria Theresa.  Maria Christiana has since been moved to the Kaisergruft, the Capuchin church where all of the Hapsburgs are buried.

Crypt of the Kaisergruft with coffins of Hapsburg family members by the dozens lining the walls.

Coffin of Empress Maria Theresa

Coffins of Emperor Franz Joseph and Empress Elisabeth, among the last monarchs of Austria-Hungary.

Shadow of the statue of the blessed Mother over the coffin of the coffin of Princess Zita.

Modern day entrance to the Palffy Palace where Mozart performed as a teenager and now where concerts are performed on a daily basis.

Vienna - On the road again! (GER)

I am now in Munich.  I took an early morning train from Vienna.  The photo above was taken on the original journey to Budapest, but I thought it worked for the return trip to Munich by train as well.  I will be in Munich until Sunday, when I fly to Warsaw on my way to Lithuania.  And you think it is easy to keep track of where I am on any given day!  It has been a blast, but not as relaxing as I had hoped.  I am always on the move!  But for now, let me try to catch up with photos from Vienna...

Steeple of Michaelerkirche (near the Hofburg Palace), the church was the local parish for the court of the Hapsburgs.

Now that is a presider's chair!

A side altar at the Michaelerkirche.

In a side chapel at Michaelerkirche, a remembrance to those who died at the concentration camp at Dachau.

In the Dachau Chapel.

The Michaelertor, the entrance to the Imperial Palace, referred to as the Hofburg.

One of the two fountains on either end of the facade of the Michaelertor.

The other fountain.

Recognize anyone?

The Imperial Palace, now museums.

It looks like all the flags of the countries I will visit during my sabbatical!

More from the Hofburg in my next posting....