AEIOU
A deep dive on Stephansdom!
After our first lecture of the summer, it was time to explore Stephansdom, one of the most famous locations in Vienna.
While Vienna was originally founded as a Roman support city called Vindabona, by the 12th century it had grown far too large to be supported by its small parish churches and needed a larger structure to meet the city's religious needs. Officially founded in 1137, the church is dedicated to St Stephen, considered by many theologians to be the first Christian martyr. Prior to the Renaissance and the rise of humanism, the builders of cathedrals were anonymous meaning we don't know exactly who constructed the church though certain additions that were made to the cathedral have included small sculpted self portraits of their designers.
One of the most interesting things in Stephansdom is the Wiener Neustadter Altar at the front of the North Nave which was ordered by Emperor Frederick III in 1447. In the photo I've attached below, I've zoomed in very tightly on the predella. If you look closely (which might be difficult because this photo is so zoomed in) you can see the letters AEIOU, a symbolic device and acronym coined by Frederick III to mean "All the world is subservient to Austria." It served as a motto both to Frederick and future Habsburg leaders and was written on most things constructed under Frederick's rule. While today, Austria would refer to the country, at this point it would mean the House of Austria, i.e. the Habsburg dynasty.
Frederick III's tomb is also at Stephansdom and, as per usual for the Habsburgs he had health issues. Elvis Presley is not the first King to die on the toilet, Frederick III's cause of death has been cited as rapid diarrhea from melon consumption. That isn't the only deep shit Frederick III was in either, he notoriously had gout and required a leg amputation in 1493 which is one of the most well-documented surgical procedures of the entire Middle Ages. When he did pass away, his tomb took 20 years to build and his bowels wound up needing to be buried separately.
The Altar at the front of the Cathedral is massive, ornate, and beautiful but also is not in a straight line from the back of the church. Most of the time, cathedrals are built to exact proportions meant to contain biblical significance by using combinations of the numbers 3, 4, and 7 which are all important in a variety of Bible stories. Stephansdom is no different but, somewhere along the line, the builders made the aisle take a 1 degree left hand turn so that, on the feast day of St Stephen, the sun would rise perfectly over the top of the Cathedral. This means that, looking down the whole length of the church, there's no way to align the chandeliers with the center of the altar. While we were looking at this phenomenon, one of the students in the group with us claimed that he could stand in a spot to align the chandeliers with the altar but our tour guide Gretl quickly corrected him.
We spent some time examining this sculpture of Charles II of Spain, a Habsburg King who ruled Spain in the late 17th century. He is perhaps the most well-known Habsburg because he had literally every health condition you could possibly think of, likely as a result of his parents being both Uncle and Niece AND first cousins. Here are all the conditions he has been reported to have had:
- He had a shriveled black testicle
- Water in the brain
- Gout
- Unable to digest food or chew because of Habsburg Jaw
- Force-fed meat that he then couldn't poop out
- Kidneys unable to acidify urine
- Hormone deficiencies
- Survived childhood bouts of measles, smallpox, rubella, and chicken pox
- Rickets
Sounds like a rough life.
After leaving Stephansdom, two of my friends and I went to the Dom Museum, a small art museum next to the church which contained pieces from Stephansdom as well as art from other churches and religious modern art. My art history major friend Viveka was very excited to see this sculpture by Venetian artist Giovanni Giuliani who introduced Italian baroque sculpture to Austria when he moved here at the start of the 18th century. Weirdly, it was located next to modern art pieces that made literally no sense in conjunction with it. While I may have enjoyed individual pieces in the Dom Museum, the way it was laid out was confusing and hard to follow. Why am I looking at a nearly 350 year old wooden sculpture next to a graffiti art painting from 2009?
After our trip to the Dom Museum was complete, we met up with Dr. Stuart at Zattl Wirsthaus und Biergarten near the Cathedral. 4 of my friends split a Veal Schnitzel, our first of the program, and it was absolutely delicious and melted in my mouth as I was eating. We also had our fair share of Radlers and Zwickl helping to make our subsequent walk around the Ringstraße and Parliament a little looser and probably a little more fun. A lovely evening to cap off an excellent day.
