Aug 13 - Day 13 in Vienna

Today was the first day back in Vienna and it definitely felt like returning home. I was very excited to get back to my daily ‘routine’, if I can claim to have one in this exciting city. I headed out to a museum – the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum, or Museum of Military History – enjoyed a delicious dinner and headed out to the Rathaus for some fun at night. It was simply a wonderful day in Vienna mixing history and the present.

The Military History Museum has to be one of my personal favorite museum going experiences. It is housed in the Arsenal, a former military complex and the first museum built in Vienna, according to the guidebook. It features several styles, such as Byzantine and Neo-Gothic. The museum, which is absolutely massive, has several major sections: Austria and Europe, 1789-1866; the Thirty Years’ Way, the Ottomans, and Prince Eugene of Savoy; Maria Theresia (and the War of Austrian Succession); Naval Power Austria (which was a surprise to me, as I had been in a modern mindset about Austria’s military and couldn’t imagine a land-locked country having a navy. Yet, of course, it was a great navy during the Habsburg empire, when the lands stretched as far as the sea); Republic and Dictatorship; Francis Joseph, Sarajevo; World War I; and the Tank Collection.

I went alone, and even better, very few people in Vienna decided to attend the museum today as well. I got to spend so much time alone in exhibits, wandering and looking to my own personal preference. I found the displays extremely good. The artifacts, such as the oldest military uniform in existence, Franz Ferdinand’s coat (with the bullet hole and blood stain!!!!! Wow, I had a history seizure when I saw that – what an incredible thing to witness in person; to be able to find the bullet hole and ponder what it caused was an experience only to be had in Vienna), guns, swords, and modern military objects, filled the museum and allowed me to spend three happy hours looking at all the history and imagining the great military conflicts Austria has embroiled itself in.

While I do not usually favor early modern history, I got a bit obsessed with the exhibit on the Ottomans. I was fascinated to learn about their army, which was organized much differently than western ones and used bows and arrows. Their weapons were stunningly beautiful and absolutely deadly. The Ottomans also used mercenaries and paid them with salary, as opposed to the feudal system of other armies.

I also enjoyed the exhibit on the Austrian navy. The first Austrian military watercraft was built during the wars against the Ottomans to assist the military on land and fight the Ottomans on the Danube. Later, thanks to Venice becoming a part of the Habsburg Empire in 1797, the navy expanded enormously with Venice as the chief harbor of the navy. In addition to military achievements, such as the battle at Lissa, I also found the expeditions to the Arctic interesting to learn about. I’ve always been fascinated by Arctic explorers, such as Ernest Shackleton, but I’d never heard of an Austrian mission! One story (with an epic accompanying painting) particularly intrigued me as it was a survival tale against all odds. The team’s ship was stuck in the ice and they had to abandon it to search for rescue. Unbelievably, they survived.

The exhibition on World War II was decent, but the way they approach it, as noted before, is quite passive. And the display on the Holocaust is surprisingly small and not well dealt with. The audio guide is not detailed on that aspect and the rest of the exhibit does not reference it as much. However, some of the propaganda and signs they have is quite good and I found it interesting overall, albeit slightly disappointing.

After exploring the other displays, I left the museum and returned to go out to dinner with everyone for Rricha’s birthday. We ate dinner at an amazing Italian restaurant that is in the courtyard of a beautiful Baroque church. After the delicious meal and amazing setting, we headed off to the Rathaus for some movie watching fun and good times. With that ended another great day in Vienna!