Welterbe | Fotoeins Fotografie

Posts tagged ‘Welterbe’

25T55 My slice through Vienna’s inner city

E54, V02.

There’s no finer way to mark today’s Canada Day than to find the Canadian Embassy 🇨🇦 in the Austrian capital city. It’s all part of my walk through the Inner City, starting at U1/U4 Schwedenplatz and ending near U2/U3 Volkstheater.

Vienna’s historic city centre was inscribed onto the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 2001, but its status was put onto the Danger list in 2017 with plans (threats?) for development.

It’s 501am and 801am in Vancouver and Toronto, respectively. But here in Vienna, I completed food shopping for the next few days. I’m about to have lunch, after which is some time in the inner city. “3” (Drei) is Austria’s third largest mobile carrier after A1 and Magenta Telekom. Naturally, all temperatures are in degrees Celsius.

*While the building has multiple tenants, the uppermost floor is occupied by the Government of Canada with its embassy (Botschaft).*

*The flag pole is attached to the wall with a metal plate in the shape of a maple leaf.*

*Summertime shop for Eis Greissler (Greissler’s Ice Cream).*

*At Stephansplatz, the northwest corner of St. Stephen’s Cathedral (near the cathedral model) has on its wall a small rectangular plaque whose text inscription is almost entirely faded.*

This plaque dates to 1945 when Soviet troops had moved into the city and checked building by building. The two words in Cyrillic are: квартал проверен (kvartal proveren), “Häuserblock geprüft”, building checked. There are at least 2 more Soviet inscription-plates like this appearing elsewhere in Vienna.

*Steiff: it’s not only about teddy bears* 🧸 *so how about Riddler bear, Bat-bear, and Elton John bear. At lower-left is a more modest-sized bear holding a little red heart* 🫶🏽

מוּזֵיאוֹן
*“Museum“, 2011 light installation by artist Brigitte Kowanz for the Jewish Museum Vienna.*

*Bräunerstrasse, west towards Josefsplatz.*

*“Henry: the art of living”, at Billa Corso Michaelerplatz.*

*“Island” platform for U-Bahn U3 (orange) station Volkstheater. This is also a junction station with the U2 line (purple).*

I made all images above with an iPhone15 on 1 July 2025. This post composed within Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.

25T51 Potsdam: Sanssouci World Heritage Site

E50, B45.

Potsdam’s Sanssouci (“care free”) palace and park are very popular places for visitors in summer. However, a couple of days with severe thunderstorms and high winds in the past week forced the closure of the entire grounds, as announced earlier today on their website and as seen with signs on their locked gates. Downed branches and tree segments needed clearing. By mid-afternoon, some of the grounds opened to foot traffic, bicycles, and motor vehicles. It’s no surprise there were far fewer number of visitors observed on the grounds today.

In 1990, selected gardens and palaces in Potsdam including Sanssouci were inscribed by UNESCO as a single item onto their list of World Heritage Sites.

*Locked gate on the grounds’ southern perimeter in morning hours.*

*Orangerieschloss: 1851 to 1860/1864, by Stüler and Persius.*

Neue Kammern: 1748 by Knobelsdorff; first an
orangery, then guest palace.

*Hauptallee, facing west to Neues Palais.*

*From Hauptallee up to Sanssouci palace.*

*Weinbergterrasse (vineyard terrace), facing north to Sanssouci palace.*

*Weinbergterrasse (vineyard terrace), facing south to the Great Fountain.*

*On the terrace steps, up to the palace.*

*The final spots for Friedrich the Great (below) and his beloved dogs (above center).*

Grave for Friedrich the Great (1712-1786) who ruled as Prussia’s monarch from 1740 until his death. Yes, those are spuds on the plaque; legend has him responsible as the first to getting potatoes into German hands and bellies.

*The visual jewel that is the centre portion of Sanssouci Palace.*

I made all images above with an iPhone15 on 27 June 2025. This post composed within Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.

25T25 Museum Island: 200 years on World Heritage Day

E24, B19.

The international UNESCO body recognized the importance of Berlin’s Museumsinsel or Museum Island by inscribing the site onto the list of World Heritage (WH) Sites in 1999.

I wrote here:

The Berlin Museumsinsel is an island consisting of five museums built between 1824 and 1930: Alte Nationalgalerie, Altes Museum, Bode-Museum, Neues Museum, and Pergamonmuseum. These museums represent individual artistic and historical significance, the continuing development of what museums should mean to society, and the achievement of a grand central civic project.

To coincide with Germany’s annual World Heritage Day on the 1st Sunday in June, the entire Museum Island celebrates its 200th anniversary with a weekend festival. I’ve chosen to visit the Altes Museum (Old Museum) and the Alte Nationalgalerie (Old National Gallery).

Altes Museum

*Natural light through the cupola in the rotunda illuminates Roman statue-copies of deities from Greek mythology*.

*Demeter (Ceres), goddess of agriculture.*

*Artemis (Diana). goddess of wild animals and the hunt; however, she’s missing a bow and arrows.*

Alte Nationalgalerie

*“Gothic Cathedral on the water”, by Karl Friedrich Schinkel, 1813.*

*“Castle by the water,” by Karl Friedrich Schinkel, 1820.*

*“Rock arch”, by Karl Friedrich Schinkel (1818).*

*“Deep in the forest by moonlight”, Caspar David Friedrich, c. 1830.*

*“Greifswald Harbour”, Caspar David Friedrich, 1818-1820.*

*“Moonrise over the sea”, by Caspar David Friedrich, 1822.*

*“Woman at a Window”, by Caspar David Friedrich, 1822.*

I made all images above with an iPhone15 on 1 June 2025. I did not receive any request or compensation for the content here. This post composed within Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.

Vienna Judenplatz: centuries & memories of the Jewish community

Above/featured: Judenplatz at night. The Holocaust memorial is in the foreground at centre. In the background are “To the little trinity” at centre and Misrachi House (Museum Judenplatz) at right. Photo, 10 Jun 2022.

At Judenplatz are clear visual reminders of the city’s first Jewish community in medieval times.

The first Jewish community in Vienna settled around present-day Judenplatz in the Middle Ages with mention in written documents dated mid- to late-13th century AD/CE. Daily Jewish life thrived around the Or-Sarua Synagogue, the Jewish School, and the Mikveh ritual bath. The community along with the surrounding Jewish neighbourhood came to an end with the Pogrom of 1421. Catholic Habsburg Duke Albrecht II rolled out a decree (Wiener Geserah, Vienna Gesera) which legitimatized the expulsion, incarceration, torture, and murder of some 800 Jewish residents; accompanied by destruction and forced takeover of buildings and property.

Below I highlight remnants and traces to the medieval Jewish community at this square in central Vienna.

Judenplatz, Vienna, Wien, Oesterreich, Austria, fotoeins.com

Facing northwest: B, Bohemian Chancellery; H, Holocaust Memorial; L, Lessing monument; M, Misrachi House; T, To the little Trinity. Photo, 20 May 2018.

Facing southeast: B, Bohemian Chancellery; J, Jordan House; H, Holocaust memorial; L, Lessing monument. Photo, 20 May 2018.

( Click here for images and more )

Vienna: Holocaust Memorial by Rachel Whiteread

Where: Judenplatz, in Vienna’s Altstadt.
What: Holocaust Memorial, by Rachel Whiteread (2000).

How do you commemorate or memorialize the absent or missing? How should the void be acknowledged, recognized, and remembered? Does the act of constructing a physical monument “draw a line”, creating a physical manifestation of marking an end that gathers and wipes away all subsequent future responsibility for remembering?

In Vienna’s Old Town, what was unjustly and violently removed from the city’s long historical memory and cultural identity comes into shape at Judenplatz. Under the public square are ruins of the medieval synagogue destroyed in the pogrom of 1421 with hundreds of Jews driven out, hundreds killed by burning, and the community erased. Directly above these ruins is the Holocaust Memorial which attempts to generate experiences and memories to address the void left behind after the systematic murder of 65-thousand people.

( Click here for images and more )