traveldk.com

This huge hospital complex with 11 courtyards is an oasis of tranquillity. At end of the 18th century Emperor Joseph II converted an existing house for the poor into a general hospital, which included a “birth house”, a “foundling house” and a “mad house” – today this houses a pathological museum (see p47). The complex was still used as a hospital up to the early 1980s but was then given to Vienna University and adapted for the the campus’s arts departments.

Founded by Emperor Joseph II in 1785 as a medical academy, the Josephinum initially trained military doctors, and later general practictioners. Today the buildings host the Institute for the History of Medicine and an anatomical museum (see p47).

Constructed as the summer residence for the Liechtenstein family at the end of the 17th century, the palace is Vienna’s premier home of Baroque art. It has undergone extensive renovation and has been reopened as a museum. This magnificent private collection of Baroque art includes masterpieces by many important artists, such as Raphael, the Brueghels, Rubens, Van Dyck and Rembrandt. The gardens are also open to the public (see p50).

These huge barracks dominating the river bank were created to protect Vienna from attacks from outside the city as well as revolt from within, after the revolutions that took place across Europe in 1848. Together with two other military camps, the Rossauer base formed a strategic triangle. Work on the barracks, which were created in Windsor style, started in 1864 and was completed six years later. The barracks became the headquarters of the Vienna police after World War II.

Franz Schubert was born in the kitchen of this little first-floor apartment, now a museum, on 31 January 1797 and spent the first four years of his life in the property, known locally as “House of the Red Crab”. The apartment, which is entered via a wooden balcony, had only one small room facing the street. The museum presents information on the composer’s life (see p58) as well as various portraits by Schubert’s contemporaries. The highlight of the exhibition, however, is Schubert’s famous spectacles.

Although this charming church is slightly off the beaten track, it is well worth a visit. The early Baroque church and an adjoining monastery were built in 1651 by the Servite convent. The interior is decorated with stucco ornaments and frescoes, but an interesting detail is the 13th-century crucifix to the right of the high altar. Originally the “cross of gallows”, it stood at the public execution place on Schlickplatz.

The founder of psychoanalysis (see p98) lived in Vienna from 1891 until 1938, when he fled from the National Socialists to London. In his spacious apartment in Berggasse, now a museum, he wrote many famous works and case histories such as Interpretation of Dreams . His former consulting rooms and office have been turned into exhibition rooms displaying his original furniture. There is also a library and a lecture hall where conferences on Freud’s theories are held.

This striking Art Nouveau double staircase which winds its way down from Strudlhofgasse to Liechtensteinstrasse was designed by Theodor Jäger in 1910. Two fountains, chandeliers and various ramps create a graceful impression. It became famous in 1951 when the Austrian writer Heimito von Doderer published a novel named after the stairway.

Vienna University was founded by Duke Rudolf IV in 1365 and today has around 60,000 students. The present building was constructed in Italian Renaissance style on a former army parade ground following plans by Heinrich Ferstel, and opened in 1884. From the entrance hall with marble columns, grand staircases lead to the lecture theatres and the library. The arcaded courtyard is lined with busts of distinguished professors and the university’s eight Nobel Prize winners. The ceremony hall is decorated with frescoes by Gustav Klimt (1895) showing the various faculties.