VIENNA (WIEN, Lat. Vindobona), ARCHDIOCESE of. - Metropolitan see and capital of the Austrian Republic. The territory of the archdiocese has an area of 9,220 sq km with 2,049,224 Catholics (out of 2,310,642 inhabitants), of whom 1,459,255 are in the municipality of Vienna alone (out of 1,780,000 inhabitants). It has 593 parishes, of which 186 are in the municipality of Vienna, served by 1,813 priests (1,025 in the city of Vienna). It has 39 male religious orders and congregations and 43 female congregations (cf. Personalstand 1952; Ann. Pont. 1953, p. 447). It has a major seminary in Vienna and a minor one in Oberhollabrunn.
I. HISTORY
V. lies at the crossroads of very ancient traffic routes: toward the Balkans along the Danube and from the Baltic Sea to the Adriatic (Bernsteinstrasse). The precise point of the river ford settled where the terrace of the present center, between an arm of the Danube and the Wien stream, forms a well-protected platform. On the nearby heights to the right (Bisamberg, 360 m.) and to the left (Leopoldsberg, 423 m.) of the Danube there are traces of fortified settlements dating back to the Neolithic age. When, in 15
B.C., the region passed under Roman rule, on the territory of the present municipality of V. there existed not a few nuclei inhabited by Celts. The one situated on the strategic point mentioned above was transformed, in the 2nd half of the 1st century, into the "castrum Vindobona"; another center, along the Danubian road, between today's districts III and IV, developed as a civil city of about 10-15 thousand inhabitants. Trajan assigned a legion there; Marcus Aurelius died in the castrum of V. in 180. Around 395 the chief town Carnuntum, gravely devastated in the barbarian invasions, declined; but at V. and in the surrounding area life continued; the civil city moved into the safer confines of the "castrum," surviving all the storms. St. Severinus, the apostle of Noricum (d. 482), often resided near ancient V.; indeed, in the very recent excavations in the church of St. James at Heiligenstadt (district XIX), the primitive tomb of the Saint is said to have come to light (his body, in the great emigration of the Roman element in 488, was transported to Italy). Jordanes, in his Gothic History, recalls V. under the name Vindomina (551) and a document of 881 under that of Wenia.
With the house of Babenberg (976-1246), which governed the reconstituted Carolingian Eastern March (Ostmark), V. grew rapidly and became a point of contact between the Germanic, Slavic, Magyar and Italian worlds: in 1130 it appears under its current name Wien; in 1137 it figures as a city, in 1156 it becomes a ducal residence.
After the extinction of the Babenbergs, Austria passed under Ottokar II, king of Bohemia (1251-78), who greatly favored V. But the city's true fortune began with the advent of the House of Habsburg (1278-1918), under whom V. remained for centuries (1439-1806) not only the capital of the "Roman-Germanic" Empire, but also the center of the Austrian domains (1526: union of the Bohemian and Hungarian crowns with the House of Austria). In 1365 Rudolf IV founded the University of V.; under Maximilian I (1493-1519) the city became one of the foremost centers of German humanism; in 1498 the "Hofmusikkapelle" was created, one of the earliest in time and importance. Twice V. was the bulwark of Christian Europe against Muslim power: in the famous sieges of 1529 and 1683. It suffered in 1805 and 1809 the occupation of Napoleon I, and was the seat in 1814-15 of the great Congress of V. Although Francis II in 1806 had laid down the crown of the Germanic Empire, V. continued to be the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Under the long government of Francis Joseph I (1848-1916) the city was renewed, enlarged and embellished (famous among other things the "Ringstrasse"), becoming a modern metropolis. In 1910 it exceeded 2 million inhabitants.
A most grievous blow for V. was the dissolution, in Nov. 1918, of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the consequent reduction to capital of the small Austrian Republic. After the first and difficult decade, recovery took shape, also religious and cultural, under the federal chancellors Seipel and Dollfuss; but Nazi domination (1938-45) and the Second World War threw city and country back into a very grave material, religious, social and cultural crisis; this time the recovery, under the weight of the four-power Allied occupation, is anything but easy, but it is now setting out with visible effects in all sectors of public and religious life.
II. THE DIOCESE
In Roman times V. belonged to the see of Carnuntum (v.). In the Carolingian era the missionary activity of Salzburg penetrated it at first; but soon the whole region passed under Passau (v.). Once V. became the residence of the Babenbergs, lords of the Eastern March, attempts began to obtain, besides political independence, ecclesiastical independence as well. A first attempt to establish a bishopric at V. under Henry II Jasomirgott, marked by the dedication (1147) of the great church of St. Stephen (patron of the cathedral of Passau), failed, as did a second under Leopold VI (around 1209), despite the consent of Innocent III. A further attempt occurred in 1258-63, under the rule of Ottokar, king of Bohemia, who even had a great provincial Synod celebrated at V. (1267). Under the Habsburgs and their growing power these attempts became more pressing. But not even Rudolf IV (1358-65) succeeded; he did, however, give the final impulse to the reconstruction of the future Cathedral. Finally Emperor Frederick III obtained from Paul II the erection of V. as an exempt diocese and the appointment of the first bishop, Count Leo of Spaur (18 Jan. 1469); who, however, given the desperate resistance of Passau, could not effectively govern there. Only on 7 Sept. 1480, at St. Stephen's, destined to be the Cathedral, was the bull In supremae dignitatis published, by which the two exempt sees of V. and Wiener-Neustadt were erected, but with very restricted territories.
During the period of Protestant penetration in Austria, the brief interlude of the administration of the diocese of V. by St. Peter Canisius (1554-1555) is noteworthy. A great and complex figure of bishop and diplomat appeared with the first cardinal of V., Melchior Klesl (v.), under whom (1614-30) the Counter-Reformation had its definitive revenge. In 1631 the bishop of V. received the title of prince of the Empire. Bishop Count Breuner had the magnificent episcopal Palace rebuilt by the Coccapani brothers (1631-48). Famous was Card. Sigismund de Kollonitsch (1716-51), under whom (1722) Emperor Charles VI obtained from Innocent XIII the elevation of V. to an archbishopric and metropolitan see (suffragan Wiener-Neustadt), with a notable enlargement of the territory. Joseph II, by his own authority, finally suppressed (1783) every foreign ecclesiastical jurisdiction in Austria; after the formal renunciation of Passau (4 July 1784) he also obtained pontifical confirmation with the bull of Pius VI Romanus Pontifex of 28 Jan. 1785, by which the entire Austrian territory, previously dependent on Passau, was divided among the new dioceses of Linz (Upper Austria), V. and Sankt Pölten (Lower Austria), the latter created by transferring the see of Wiener-Neustadt; its metropolitan was V.
After the Napoleonic era, the Josephinist regime became increasingly mitigated. Finally Card. Joseph Othmar Rauscher (1853-75), undisputed head of the Austrian episcopate and principal architect of the Concordat of 1855, marked the public religious recovery of Austrian Catholicism.
The last archbishops (all cardinals) were: Anton Joseph Gruscha (1890-1911); Franz Nagl (1911-1913), organizer of the International Eucharistic Congress of V. of 1912; Friedrich Gustav Piffl (1913-32), formerly provost abbot of Klosterneuburg (v.); Theodor Innitzer (from 1932; cardinal in 1933), who lived through the period of Nazi domination (1938-45) which raged particularly against Catholic Austria and, and through the difficult recovery of 1945, in the face of immense material and spiritual devastation. During his episcopate there existed, before 1938, the newspapers Wiener Kirchenblatt and Zwei-Groschen-Blatt, a daily of very high circulation, due to the initiative of Msgr. Joseph Gorbach, who used the proceeds for the erection of many parish churches in the outskirts of V.; and the Caritas socialis, a work founded by the Austrian chancellor Msgr. Ignaz Seipel (v.), in cooperation with Mrs. Illegarde Burian, who died in the fame of sanctity. During the period of Nazi harassment, Card. Innitzer founded at V. the Theologische Laienjahr, a kind of theological-practical seminary for the formation of lay co-workers; today it has a two-year course for academics and non-academics and since 1950 also a Fernkurs; it issues a qualification diploma for working directly in the care of souls. In 1946 the same Card. Innitzer promoted the Katholische Akademie, with its seat in the abbey of the «Schotten», an institute of higher culture. In 1947 the Siedlungsaktion of the Austrian episcopate began, to encourage, with means of the Church and on land owned by it, the construction of popular housing. In 1948 the Viennese diocesan institute of pastoral care, created to study, coordinate and strengthen the various pastoral initiatives, became the Österreichische Seelsorgeinstitut; famous are its annual study weeks and its journal Der Seelsorger. On 27 Apr. 1952 the Domfest was celebrated, that is the inauguration of the rebuilt cathedral of St. Stephen, and the first Österr. Katholikentag of reborn Austria (10-14 Sept.), in commemoration of the liberation of V. from the Turks (1683): a very significant event in the country's present conditions.
The three phases of the growth of religious life at V. coincide with the three periods of the general Catholic religious revival:
1. Middle Ages
The first place belongs to the Benedictine abbey of the «Schotten», founded by Henry II in 1158 and held by Scottish monks until 1418; it acquired many merits in the field of general culture and of higher education in particular with its gymnasium (v. Cottineau, II, col. 3366). The Franciscans settled at V. around 1120; from 1447 at the Minoritenkirche. St. John of Capistrano, preaching at V. in 1451 the Crusade against the Turks, founded there a convent of Observanti, which later moved (1389) to the center of the city, to the Franziskanerkirche. The Dominicans arrived in V. in 1226. From as early as 1220 the Knights of Rhodes (now of Malta) settled there, and shortly afterward the Teutonic Knights, V. serving as a natural base for the passage to the East. In 1327 the Hermits of St. Augustine were called, in 1360 the Carmelites (however, already extinct around 1550). All of them built great churches, for the most part transformed in the Baroque era.
2. Era of the Counter-Reformation
It was above all the ruling house that favored the religious Orders in order to re-establish the Catholic religion in the capital. Ferdinand I called the Jesuits in 1551 and St. Ignatius sent Le Jay and Bobadilla there; in the same year they opened a College, incorporated in 1622 into the University, in which the Jesuits had great influence. The Emperor Matthias called the Capuchins; St. Lawrence of Brindisi personally led the first group to Prague; on this occasion V. too had a first house in the suburb of St. Ulrich (1599) and shortly afterward, in the center of the city, the Kapuzinerkirche, beneath which the same Emperor wished the imperial burial vault to be erected. He also summoned the Fatebenefratelli (1614), whose hospital has remained to this day a center not only of Christian charity, but also of medical science and practice. In 1623 the Discalced Carmelites were called, in 1624 the Minims, in 1628 the Camaldolese Hermits, in 1633 the Benedictines of Montserrat, called Schwarzspanier, who opened the abbey of Emaus in Prague and a priory in V., elevated to an abbey in 1708. To the court parish of St. Michael the Barnabites were called in 1626; in 1660 they also had the sanctuary of Mariahilf. From 1639 the Servites are found in V., known for the cult they propagated of St. Pellegrino Laziosi (canonized in 1727), which became extraordinarily popular in V. In the era of the victorious repression of the Turkish Empire the Trinitarians, called Weisspanier, were called to V., who, until the Josephine suppression, organized more than a thousand ransoms in the East. In 1697 the Piarists, already flourishing in Hungary, opened a college in V. and in 1751 a second one at St. Tecla. Finally, in 1703, the Theatines too had a church and house in V. But Joseph II destroyed almost everything with his suppressions (1780-85).
3. Modern era
It opens, in 1810, with the Mechitarists, who form in V. a Congregation of their own, deserving above all for the Armenian printing press. Following the activity of St. Clement M. Hofbauer (v.), the Redemptorists were admitted in 1820; shortly afterward the re-established Society of Jesus. In 1855 the Lazarists came to settle in V., in 1857 the Brothers of the Christian Schools, in 1912 the Salesians, not to mention the many other modern Congregations.
As for female religious houses, there is mention of them in V. from as early as the 12th century. The Poor Clares appeared there only in 1305 (they ceased in 1451), the Dominicans (Second Order) in 1324. The Empress Eleonora of Gonzaga, consort of Ferdinand II, called the Carmelites to V. in 1629, suppressed by Joseph II, but returned in 1879. Eleonora, consort of Leopold I, introduced the Ursulines in 1660 for the education of women; in 1709 the hospital of the Elizabethines was opened; the Empress Amalia, consort of Charles VI, erected in 1717 the convent and church of the Salesians (Order of the Visitation). These last three religious families escaped the Josephine fury, because they were dedicated to education and therefore "of public utility." In 1832 the Empress Caroline Augusta called the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent to V.; many other religious families followed; today there are 43 of them.
III. ARCHAEOLOGY
In the city plan the various stages of its historical development can be distinguished very clearly. Notable remains of the castrum have been discovered by the recent bombardments, and 4-8 meters below the pavement of the "Hoher Markt," the ancient forum. The city museums preserve a rich archaeological material from the Paleolithic age onward, and especially from the Roman period. The "Altertumsverein" and the "Geschichtsverein," in addition to the official bodies, take an interest in the antiquities of Vienna.
Within the territory of the archdiocese of Vienna there are also other Roman centers, especially along the Danubian "limes," such as Carnuntum (v.), Cannabica castrum with Asturis (Klosterneuburg), Augustianis (Traismauer) and Comagene (Tulln), and along the "thermal line," with warm sulfurous waters, already frequented by the Romans, as at Meidling (district XII of Vienna), at Baden (Aquae) and Vöslau. Despite the many Roman archaeological finds, no Christian elements have yet come to light, with the exception of "Carnuntum." In 1953, however, important remains of Roman buildings were discovered at Klosterneuburg, among them a triple-apsed building that could be Christian, and at Heiligenstadt the primitive tomb of St. Severinus with a rough baptismal font beside it (5th century).
IV. CHURCHES AND SANCTUARIES
The archdiocese of V. is very rich in churches valuable both for their architecture and for their interior furnishings. All styles are represented, from Romanesque to modern; those in the Gothic style, however, often subsequently given Baroque treatment, and those purely Baroque, predominate: this is explained above all by the Turkish devastations, especially that of 1683 (v. AUSTRIA, Art).
1. In the municipality of V
The greatest ecclesiastical monument of V. and of all Austria is the cathedral of St. Stephen. The original construction, a great Romanesque basilica with three naves, with a western façade with two towers and a great figurative portal ("Riesentor"), is due to Henry II Jasomirgott (dedication 1147). Under Leopold VI (c. 1200-10) the construction was continued and enlarged. Under Ottokar II of Bohemia, after two serious fires in the city (1258 and 1276) and in conjunction with the third attempt to obtain the episcopal see, a Gothic transept with a square choir and apse was added to the pre-existing building. The emperor Albert I began, around 1304, a grandiose "Hallenchor", that is, a Gothic choir with three naves of equal height with three apses, completed under Albert II and dedicated in 1340 (the "Albertine" choir), with precious sculptures on the pillars, a crypt intended as the burial place of the dynasty, and with a great "lectorium"; the church then counted from 24 to 34 altars. Rudolf IV (1358-65) established at St. Stephen a sumptuous chapter (24 canons and numerous clergy), undertook the construction of an enormous "Hallenkirche" with three naves, in replacement of the Romanesque basilica, of which only the façade was preserved, enlarging and heightening it. The deviser and first architect of the ingenious plan is Michael Chnab (Knab), who was followed by many others. In 1433 the "great tower" was completed (masters Peter and John of Prachatitz), and in 1446 the great vaults of the naves were closed (John Puchsbaum). In 1451 St. John of Capistrano preached the Crusade in the cemetery around the church, from a Gothic pulpit, later walled up and in 1752 richly decorated in Baroque style. Between 1476 and 1486 William Rollinger and assistants created the marvellous Gothic choir stalls lost in the fire of 1945. Between 1467 and 1513 there was built, in the middle of the right choir, the tomb of Frederick III, one of the richest works of the late Gothic. Notable is the baptismal font, in Salzburg red marble, by Ulrich Auer (1476-81) with a crown (roof) in carved wood (the seven Sacraments), later used as the roof of the pulpit and restored to its original purpose after the restorations of 1945 ff. In 1711 Joseph I had cast, in fulfilment of a vow, with 200 Turkish cannons, the famous "Pummerin", an enormous bell of 19,800 kg., which fell silent from 1938 and fell melted in the fire of 1945. With the participation of all Austria a new one was cast and consecrated. The interior and exterior of the Cathedral are extremely rich in monuments, especially sepulchral ones. In 1884 there was placed, beside the tomb of Frederick III, the famous "Wiener Neustädter Altar", an enormous carved wooden altarpiece, commissioned by Frederick himself. Notable are the "Catacombs" of St. Stephen, a great subterranean sepulchral labyrinth, up to 4 and 5 levels, and the "Stefansgruft", in which were placed, after the ritual embalming, the entrails of the deceased members of the reigning house, while their hearts were placed beneath the "Loreto-Kapelle" in the court church of St. Augustine, and the "Bischofsgruft", opened in 1953, where the tombs of the archbishops of V. are arranged. Unfortunately on the night between 11 and 12 April 1945 a fire burned the church; the bells melted, and together with the 40,000 oak beams of the enormous roof broke the vaults in several places, so that the flames also destroyed immense treasures in the interior. In 1952, with the contribution of the whole nation, its essential reconstruction was brought to completion. In 1946 the rich diocesan Museum, founded in 1933, was reopened. The cathedral of V. is an immense "Hallenkirche", with a "Hallenchor", with three naves, with a transept, closed at its two arms by two great towers.
The oldest church of V. still existing is the Ruprechtskirche (district I), erected in the 8th century: the present construction is of the 12th-15th centuries, the bell tower is Romanesque. Of the same period (792) is the Peterskirche (district I), but rebuilt from the foundations in splendid Baroque style by Gabriele Montali (1703), completed (1732) by Lucas v. Hildebrandt, with sculptures by S. Matielli and A. Galli Bibienna, and canvases by Mart. Altomonte, Mart. Rottmayr and G. M. Schmidt. The third church by age would be Maria "am Gestade" ("on the shore", district I), erected in the 9th century, rebuilt in Romanesque form; with a high Gothic choir and a curious heptagonal bell tower with a Gothic cupola (1330-53); the nave was rebuilt (1394-1415) by the master Michael Chnab (?); there are remains of stained-glass windows of the 14th and 15th centuries, sculptures of the high Gothic on the pillars and a rare Renaissance altar carved by John Perger (1520). The Michaelerkirche (district I) is the greatest example remaining in V. of the Romanesque style (2nd half of the 13th century), with a Gothic choir (1327) and a high bell tower (1340-44); the classical high altar is of 1781. The Minoritenkirche (district I) is a "Hallenkirche" (1251-76) with a characteristic squat bell tower, which has remained so since 1529. It contains the famous mosaic copy of Leonardo's Last Supper, commissioned by Napoleon I. The Augustinerkirche (district I) too is a "Hallenkirche" (1330-39), more advanced; its architect was D. Ladtner; another similar church was that of the Carmelites (1386-1405), called Am Hof (district I), which passed in 1553 to the Jesuits, and was completely given Baroque treatment (1607-10), with an elegant façade and loggia by C. A. Carlone (1622), and canvases by M. Altomonte, Gioacch. Sandrart, G. M. Schmidt. Notable is the Franziskanerkirche (quarter I), which presents itself in Renaissance style with curious Gothic reminiscences, with works by Ant. Pozzo, G.M. Rottmayr and G.M. Schmidt. The Kapuzinerkirche (quarter I), of 1622-32, is very simple, but very well known for the "Kaisergruft," the imperial tombs, erected by Matthias (first interment of 1633) and enlarged several times. There are interred, in 136 sarcophagi, 140 deceased of the House of Austria, among them 12 emperors and 15 empresses. The Universitätskirche (quarter I), on the model of the early Italian Baroque, is of 1628-31; the interior, the work of Ant. Pozzo, is of an exuberant Baroque (1705-1709). The Dominikanerkirche (quarter I) was a Romanesque church of 1262 with a Gothic choir of 1302, but it was completely rebuilt in Italian Baroque style in 1631-34. Among the most grandiose churches of V. is the Karlskirche (quarter IV), built in fulfillment of a vow by Charles VI during the plague of 1713, a capital work of G. Bernardo Fischer v. Erlach and of his son Gius. Eman. (1716-39), on a Greek cross plan, with a high dome, two slender bell towers in the form of twisted columns, with high reliefs commemorating the life of St. Charles Borromeo (v.). It vies with the not far distant (quarter II) Salesianerinnenkirche (1717-30) by Dom. Fel. Allio, a harmonious complex of a domed church and convent. Of high interest is the Altlerchenfelderkirche (quarter VII), dedicated to the "seven refuges" (a devotion typical of the Baroque), the creation of the Romantic artists of V. (1850-61); Romantic-Neoclassical architecture by G.S. Müller and frescoes of the period, by Gius. Führich, L. Kupelwieser, K. Klaas, etc. Typical is the Votivkirche (quarter IX), in memory of the failed assassination attempt on Franc. Joseph I (18 Feb. 1853) by H. v. Ferstel (1856-79), a perfect imitation of French Gothic, with beautiful stained-glass windows by Ed. v. Steinle and G. Führich. Then, beyond the Neo-Gothic and Neo-Romanesque churches (19th-20th century), there are the modern ones: the Don-Boscokirche (1918), Seipelkirche (1933-34) and the steel one of the Madonna del Carmine, by H.L. Prutscher (1942).
The oldest sanctuary of V. would be that of Mariabrunn, which would go back to the times of St. Gisela, consort of St. Stephen, king of Hungary (1938). The present church was built by Ferdinand II (1639-45). In the VI quarter, which takes its name from it, is the Mariahilferkirche built in 1686-89 on the site of a wooden chapel (1660), completed in 1713-30; rich interior with celebrated frescoes by P. Troger. More grandiose is the Piaristenkirche Maria Treu, the work of G.L. von Hildebrandt (1716-21).
2. Outside the Municipality of V
In some regions, less subject to the devastations of wars, distinguished monuments of Romanesque style have been preserved; especially notable are two rare examples of round domed churches: at Petronell, today the family tomb of the counts Abenaberg-Traun, from the 2nd half of the 12th century, and the parish church of Scheiblingskirchen, documented from 1164, but more ancient. A monument of the first order is the main church (from 1468 to 1784 a cathedral) of Wiener-Neustadt, with a facade with two bell towers and three Romanesque basilical naves, an early Gothic choir (1300-30), figurative portals; Baroque interior furnishings; there one admires the tomb of Card. Klesl, attributed to G. L. Bernini (1630).
A unique Romanesque monument is the parish church of Schöngrabern, from the 1st half of the 12th century, with the exterior of the apse covered with Romanesque sculptures reproducing cycles borrowed from the Bible and from the apocrypha. At Deutsch-Altenburg the parish church is also from the first half of the 13th century, a Romanesque basilica with three naves, with a Gothic choir of the 14th century. Notable is the church of the ancient city of Mödling, one of the largest "Hallenkirchen," with Romanesque elements, rebuilt after the Turkish destruction of 1529. To be remembered furthermore is the parish church of Zistersdorf (c. 1620), in which is preserved the Madonna by L. Cranach the Elder. Characteristic monuments of the Turkish epic are the many "Wehrkirchen," that is, fortified churches. Typical then are the many "Karner" (ossuaries), almost all of Romanesque style, among them those of Tulln (1321), with a figurative portal and frescoes of the 15th century; that of Mödling (1345), similar to the preceding one, that of Deutsch-Altenburg, with a carved portal, and many simple ones, also Gothic.
For the abbeys v. KLOSTERNEUBURG; BEILIGENKREUZ, Joseph II suppressed (1782) the charterhouse of Mauerbach, founded by Frederick II the Fair (1313), and rebuilt in Baroque forms (1616-31); and the Benedictine abbey of Kleinmariazell (1136-1782), with a Romanesque church, excellently Baroque-ized (today a parish church).
Quite popular are certain sanctuaries, such as Maria Lanzendorf, which already existed in the 12th century, under Leopold V (Maria auf der Haide); rebuilt after the Turkish destruction of 1683 by Leopold I, with the primitive medieval chapel included. At Sollenau is found the first transalpine imitation of the chapel of Loreto (14th century). Of the 16th-17th century are the sanctuaries of Maria Ellend and of Karnabrunn (Most Holy Trinity). Very popular is the pilgrimage to Sankt Corona (17th century), and that to Maria Enzersdorf, rebuilt in 1730 (Franciscans), also known for the "Romantiker-Friedhof"; not a few among the Catholic "Romantics" of V., out of devotion to the Madonna, wished to be buried here. Finally Maria Schutz, near the Semmering pass, rebuilt in 1738.
V. LIFE AND CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS
A first great cultural flowering is seen in the 12th-13th century, at the time of the Crusades, another after the founding of the University (1363), the third, more glorious, in the Baroque era, after the definitive repression of the Turkish danger (1683). Of this last period of unitary culture, still profoundly religious and Christian, Vienna and all of Austria still bear the indelible marks. Several times in history Vienna had a primacy in music; at the end of the Middle Ages: Hofmusikkapelle, Burgkapelle, which still exists (Sänger-Knaben); in the first half of the 19th century (the Viennese "Classics" such as Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Bruckner, etc.), and, in the field of opera and operetta, down to the present day. The theater too, much favored by the Court, always flourished in Vienna. Famous is the Viennese medical school: Gerard Van Swieten, under Maria Theresa; Billroth (1829-1894); Wagner-Jauregg (1857-1940) and others. In Vienna the first Polytechnic of Europe was erected (1815). The Albertina is the world's richest collection of drawings, engravings (also papyri, etc.), with more than 600,000 sheets. Vienna possesses a large number of museums, often of rare importance. The Kunsthistorische Museum, of origin and property of the imperial House, has collections of every branch of ancient and modern art, with many priceless pieces, especially in painting. The Kunstgewerbemuseum unites treasures of the figurative and applied arts, with professional studios; very rich are the Museums of technology, of folklore (Austrian and foreign), of ethnology, of weapons, of antiquities of the City, of clocks, etc. The old Hofburg (Imperial Palace), a picturesque complex that arose between the 14th and 20th centuries, besides being of high historical-artistic value, preserves among its various collections above all the two "treasuries," the Geistliche and the Weltliche Schatzkammer, with unique pieces and treasures, of Eastern and Western provenance, sacred and profane, accumulated over the centuries by the imperial House; noteworthy are precious and rare items of sacred vestments, medieval and Baroque, the insignia of the Roman-German and Austrian Empire, etc. Treasures of another kind, equally priceless, are preserved by the Haus-, Hofund Staatsarchiv, with more than 70,000 documents, a select Library of over 50,000 vols. and with all the most modern tools of restoration and conservation. The national Library, the former Hofbibliothek, founded in 1440, open to the public since 1726, contains more than 1.5 million volumes, is very rich in papyri, manuscripts, incunabula, musical collections, portraits, etc.; it is housed in a building constructed under Charles VI by Joh. Fischer v. Erlach (1723-26), enlarged (1767-73) by N. Pacassi, with the grandiose central domed hall, with the famous frescoes by D. Gran, one of the most sumptuous library halls. The University Library has approximately 1,300,000 volumes. The events of war brought, despite the precautions taken, various damages and losses.
Bibliography38 works
Giuseppe Löw
VI. CONGRESS of Vienna
It took place in the years 1814-15, to settle certain problems left unresolved by the Treaty of peace of Paris (May 30, 1814). Representatives of the governments of England, Prussia, Russia, France, Austria, the German states, Sweden, Portugal, Spain, Denmark and the states of Italy participated in it.
There was never a plenary assembly and the affairs were handled by the representatives of the major powers: Austria, Prussia, Russia and England. Despite the propositions of these ministers to isolate France and to reshape the map of Europe according to their interests, Talleyrand's skill made it possible to have France included in the diplomatic game of the great powers. A first attempt to monopolize the work of the future congress, excluding France from it, failed precisely because of Talleyrand's opposition. The plans for the partition of Poland and Saxony cast a shadow over the atmosphere, and he, entrenching himself behind the principle of legitimacy, opposed any design contrary to French interests, while with no less skill Metternich succeeded in eliminating any consideration for the national and innovating element, which had nevertheless contributed not a little to Napoleon's defeat. At the conclusion of the proceedings, against the principle of legitimacy championed by Talleyrand, the principle of equilibrium prevailed in the definitive settlement of Europe. Saxony had been the only one among the German states not to renounce its alliance with Napoleon, and availing itself of this reason Prussia counted on annexing its territory, while Russia would have wanted to reorganize the Polish state in a personal union under the sovereignty of the Tsar. Austria was hostile to both solutions, but the English government, if only to check Russian claims, was prepared to sacrifice Saxony to Prussia, in order to break the latter's solidarity with Russia. The conclusion of the Peace of Ghent between England and the United States (24 Dec. 1814) and the defensive Treaty between England, Austria and France (3 Jan. 1815), aimed at opposing the Russo-Prussian claims, to which Bavaria, Hanover, the Netherlands, Sardinia and Hesse-Darmstadt also acceded somewhat later, placed the Russo-Prussian coalition in serious embarrassment. On 6 March 1815, at the end of a long conference between Austria, France, Russia, Prussia and England, Metternich received a dispatch from the Austrian consul in Genoa, in which he was informed of Napoleon's escape from Elba. On 13 March Bonaparte was declared by the Congress to be outside the civil laws, and on 25 March the Treaty of Chaumont (1 March 1814) was renewed, establishing the elimination of Napoleon from Europe with an invitation to France to accede to it. On 9 June 1815 the Final Act of the Congress was stipulated: Saxony was preserved for its dynasty, except for certain provinces annexed to Prussia; Russia received a part of Poland; the Rhenish Palatinate and the Grand Duchy of Würzburg were united to Bavaria; the Kingdom of the Netherlands was created with the union of Luxembourg, Belgium and Holland; the 36 states of Germany were constituted into a confederation, with a Diet seated at Frankfurt am Main, presided over by Austria; three cantons (Valais, Neuchâtel and Geneva) were added to Switzerland, and its neutrality was recognized; Sweden lost Finland, of which Russia had taken possession, and obtained in compensation Norway, which had previously been united to Denmark; the latter received the Duchy of Lauenburg, while ceding Swedish Pomerania to Prussia.
Important innovations also occurred in the settlement of the Italian states. The Republic of Genoa was suppressed and its territory incorporated into Piedmont, establishing the succession of the Savoy-Carignano branch, in the event of the extinction of the reigning one; Austria retained Lombardy and also remained in the Veneto; the Kingdom of Naples, in which Murat had provisionally been left, returned to the Bourbons. France had already stipulated a first Treaty at Paris on 30 May 1814. It was forced to conclude another, more burdensome one (20 Nov. 1815), after the Hundred Days, and had to cede certain territories to the Netherlands, Saarlouis and Saarbrücken to Prussia, Landau to Bavaria; a part of Savoy, which had been assigned to it by the first treaty, returned to Sardinia. It had, moreover, to pay a heavy war indemnity (700,000,000 francs); to submit for five years to the occupation of certain frontier strongholds while bearing their expenses; to restore all the works of art, books and documents that had been carried off by the French troops of occupation, and to renounce in favor of England certain of its colonial possessions (Tobago and St. Lucia in the Antilles, the Seychelles and Mauritius in the Indian Ocean).
A problem of particular difficulty was the settlement of the Papal State. Already in 1814, in a conversation held at Bologna between Murat and Pius VII, the former had demanded the renunciation in favor of the Kingdom of Naples of the pontifical territory with the exception of Rome and Latium. Now, conversely, the possibility was being aired that the Legations might pass, for the duration of her life, to Maria Luigia, daughter of Francis I of Austria and former empress of the French, in exchange for Parma and Piacenza, which were to be restored to the Bourbons of Parma. The Pontiff's protests induced a fallback to the former Republic of Lucca, which was refused by Maria Luigia of Habsburg, so that territory was temporarily assigned to Maria Luisa of Bourbon, mother of the minor Charles Louis, who upon the death of Maria Luigia would have regained Parma and Piacenza, while Lucca would have been annexed to the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. The territory of the small Republic of San Marino had not been touched during the Napoleonic occupation, and therefore remained intact in the general reshaping of the Italian peninsula. Pius VII did not accede to the Final Act, and on 14 June protested against the Austrian troops garrisoning the right bank of the Po, against the annexation of Avignon to France, and on behalf of the principal German ecclesiastics who had been secularized. It was to the credit of the diplomats assembled at the Congress that, before the close of the proceedings, they issued an invitation to put an end to the slave trade, deploring this shameful and barbarous traffic, in which some of the governments participating in the Congress were interested. In an appendix to this, on the initiative of Tsar Alexander, on 26 Sept. 1815 the sovereigns of Russia, Prussia and Austria concluded at Paris the agreement that goes by the name of the Holy Alliance (v.). - See plates CXLII-CXLIII.
