Some architecture alumni from Stuttgart colleges and universities built important buildings in Vienna. As part-time Stuttgart citizen and part-time Viennese I enjoy this fact. And I will write about it from time to time. Today – the builder of the Viennese town hall.
In the middle of the 19th century the number of Viennese inhabitants jumped from 50,000 people up to more than 430.000. The old town hall didn’t had space enough to manage Vienna. What followed where years of metropolitan discussions much like the discussions about the hygienic needs. 23 places for a new town hall were discussed. And then finally a tender for the new building was finalized. 65 Austrian and foreign architects handed in their proposals. Members of the selection committee were among others the famous architects Ferstel and Semper. Project XIV with the title „Saxa loguntur“ (the stones talk) won. In a ceremony the sealed envelope with the architects’ name was opened and the winner was: Friedrich Schmidt (1825 – 1891), a German Viennese. Second till fifth places went to Parisian and Berlin architects only from place six onwards native architects were awarded. 1873 they started with the foundation stone; ten years later an area of 19,592 square metres had been covered and the cap stone could be set. Again ten years later the German Viennese became a honorary citizen of Vienna. 1886 he became a baron.
Humbly he steps back behind his work – 1896 the memorial for Schmidt had been uncurtained behind the town hall – photo. Read the rest of this entry »
From 1882 to 1917 natural ice was extracted from the Old Danube. The ice was the only cooling substance for restaurants and butchers. So called ice choppers extracted the ice out of the frozen Danube and rafted it to ice cellars and ice caverns. What a job! 
This summer the term allergy celebrates its 102nd birthday. Maybe the pollen don’t dance too madly that day because it is a sad day for them. Someone “saw” their side effects. A Viennese of course – who else. In Vienna of course – where else. Clemens von Pirquet (1874 – 1929), a paediatrician, founded together with a colleague the science of allergies. The term was coined by Pirquet. He brought together the Greek words different & action. Although there are other readings. In addition: different & function, changed & action. May there be name readings, an allergic reaction is an allergic reaction. Whom it conquers it doesn’t give time to muse about the name. She or he gets tortured by this overreaction to the immune system on normally “harmless” substances like pollen & co.
Minna Kautsky (1837 – 1912) was born in Graz and moved with her parents to Prague. She only gets one year of school education. But with the help of her father and well filled book shelves she can accomplish a kind of a private study. Her reading comprises theatre plays too and she develops a passion for the theatre. Minna becomes an actress. Marriage being 16, theatre engagements in Bohemia, Moravia and Germany, in-between children. Her first child is the “later leading theorizer of Marxism” Karl Kautsky. She cannot keep up such a demanding life for long, she collapses and gets a severe lung disease. Has to give up her theatre life being only 24. 1863 she moves with her husband and their children to Vienna. Her husband has got a position at the Hofburgtheater (imperial court theatre) as set painter.
… there was a dream of the „Magic of Love” “In the Country of Dreams”. A dream under the “Rainbow” with “Masquerades”, “Confetti” and “Cocktails”. These were the imaginative names of the imaginative productions of the Revue (1945/46 – 1970/71).
