Visiting MAK and the Third Man Museum

Saturday June 15 was the warmest day yet in Vienna- about 26C.  After our daily visit to the Naschmarkt (amazing to be right across the street), we headed out to the Museum fur Angewandte Kunst (Museum of Applied Arts), known as MAK.  It originally opened in 1864 as the Imperial and Royal Austrian Museum of Art and Industry and moved to its present location in 1871.  It is housed in a large neo-renaissance building.

Outside of MAK

Inside-- the doors lead to the exhibits

Stained glass window at MAK

We visited a number of the current exhibits.  The highlight was the redesign of the permanent Vienna 1900: Viennese Arts and Crafts 1900-1938, which is still in the process of being finalized.  There are three newly designed galleries, each with a theme about the development of Viennese style and the relationship with international modernism in the period 1990 to the annexation of Austria by the Nazis in 1938.

  Beautiful chandelier

The pieces were beautifully displayed in new cabinets and there were plaques with key years and events hanging from the ceiling.

 New exhibit space

The exhibit also featured Klimt's Drawing for the execution of a mosaic Frieze at the dining hall of Palais Stoclet in Brussels, 1910/11.

Detail from Drawing

 One can see Klimt's written notes on the drawing

 A vitrine with Klimt's drawing in the background

Vitrine in foreground with beautiful Ornamental Cabinet beside it designed by Rose Krenn (1884-1970) in 1912

Vote Social Democrat-1932 by Viktor Theodor Slama (1890-1973)

The exhibit was a showcase of some of the best furniture, household items and glass designed by the Wiener Werkstatte Company (1903-32) and many others.  All that creativity came to an inglorious end in the late 1930s.

We also saw a small exhibit of English Fabrics and Carpets circa 1900, which featured many textiles by William Morris (1834-96) and others, that clearly had an influence on Viennese arts and crafts.

Honeysuckle 1876

There was also an interesting exhibit about Adolf Loos, the influential Viennese architect and his influences on modern architecture.  We then had lunch at Osterreicher Im MAK, the restaurant in MAK, run by a well-known chef.  The menu has both Viennese classics and some modern dishes.  All very good and very pleasant to eat outside.

Beet risotto

Alain with goulash

We then left the museum and bumped into the Pride Parade which was heading down the Ringstrasse.  It was quite a large parade, but definitely tame compared to Toronto.  It was a beautiful day and everyone was having a great time.  Lots of people on the parade paths, but again nothing like the Toronto scene.

Pride Parade

Walking down the Ringstrasse

Sign from the Rainbow Group at the Credit Bank Austria

Later in the day we saw folks gathering for a concert in a park, just minutes from the square where Hitler announced the annexation of Austria in 1938.

As we passed the end of the parade, the street cleaning crew was already at work, with Pride flags on their vehicles (no way would the clean up happen so fast in Toronto).

Cleaning crew on the scene following behind the parade

Trams with Pride flags

We then headed back to our neighbourhood to visit the Third Man Museum, which is only open on Saturday afternoons.  The Museum, which is located in a number of small rooms in three adjoining buildings is based on one man's private collection that has grown since the museum opened in 2005. The collection include posters, lobby cards and star portraits/bios as well as a 1936 projector similar to one that would have been used to show the premier in 1949.  There was also a room devoted to the pre and post war periods, including photos of bombed out Vienna in 1945.  

It was interesting to see the bios of the six Viennese actors who had roles in the movie-- one Jewish, who had escaped to the United States and one whose "greatest success" (at least that's what the bio said) was playing an old Jew in anti-semitic movies during the war.  Anton Karas (1906-85), who was discovered by the director in Vienna playing his zither in a wine bar, was also featured as was the zither he played in the movie.  In another room, we saw two minutes from the sewer scene played on the old projector.

 Outside the museum

 Main poster for the museum

Gallery of stars from the movie and their bios

 Harry Lime Theme from The Third Man

The zither used in the film

Posters from all over the world

 Picture from post war with reps from the four occupying countries- USA, Soviet Union, France and England

The 1936 German Ernemann VIIb 35 mm projector

After the museum, we stopped at our apartment for a short rest and then headed out to meet our friend Paul for dinner.  We love these traffic lights which picture both a pedestrian and a bike. 

We passed by the absolutely immense Greek style Parlament building on the Ringstrasse.  The building was completed in 1883 and initially housed two chambers of the Imperial Council of the Austrian part of the Austrian-Hungarian empire.  The first Austrian republic was proclaimed on its steps in 1918.

 Detail of statue in front of the Parlament

The federal Parlament building

We took a route that lead us past the old Palais Ephrussi, the family home that was confiscated by the Nazis in 1938, and which Edmund de Waal writes about in his book on the family's history- the wonderful The Hare with Amber Eyes.  It is very hard to imagine one family living in this building, but they did.  It now houses a number of different businesses.  In 2011, Edmund de Waal spoke about his book and family in the part of the building that is a bank (his lecture is on YouTube).

The former Palais Ephrussi

Detail of the Palais

Toby in front of the Palais

Bookstore nearby with book and Edmund de Waal photo

We then met Paul for a lovely dinner at Bodega, a spanish tapas restaurant near the Judenplatz.  I forgot to take pictures, but afterwards we went for a tour of some beautiful churches near where Paul lives. The most beautiful was the Maria am Gestade, built from 1394-1414, one of the oldest churches in the city.

The beautiful Gothic Maria am Gestade 

We also passed by the Jesuitenkirche (Jesuit Church) and the Dominican Church.  It was a bit too dark to take photos, but here is a picture of the Jesuit Church from the internet.  We also passed by the old University of Vienna.

Beautiful ceiling in University building

We continued our walk and saw a few plaques with the names of deported Jews and the houses they had lived in.  

We also saw our first "Stolperstein" (stumblestone), the commemorative markers, installed in pavements near homes or workplaces of victims of the Holocaust (both those who died and those who survived).  The Stolperstein project was started by Gunter Demnig in 1994.  As of 2013, there have been over 40,000 installed in over 700 locations across Europe.  We saw some last year in Rome.

We ended up at Cafe Diglas for a late night coffee and piece of sacher torte.

 Alain, Toby and Paul

We are finding that we have barely enough time to explore Vienna.  It is a fascinating city with a very interesting history.  Another late night and another early morning post.