Today was a day I had been looking forward to ever since I first heard about it at the orientation meeting for this program: Stift Kosterneuberg.
It actually began with Daryl Chan, Michael McMahon, and myself giving a quick lecture about the Karl Marx-Hof at the Karl Marx-Hof, since our bus to the abbey was departing from nearby there. In any case...the Karl Marx-Hof is a prime example of Red Vienna architecture, "Red Vienna" being the period in the early 1920s when the city was under an effective socialist government. The apartment complex was considered to be very advanced for its day as it had low gas and electricity rates, no charge for running water, en-suite bathrooms, and excellent launderies, nursery schools, libraries, and green areas. For the worker who stood with socialist causes, this was an excellent improvement in living conditions. People still live there today, even decades after the Austro-fascist paramilitary Heimwehr bombarded revolters into surrender during the Austrian Civil War.
When our brief stop there was complete we proceeded to the abbey at Klosterneuberg, where we were greeted by American-born canons (not monks!) who gave us free champagne made at the abbey after taking us through their gardens. They soon took us throughout their abbey, which been around for quite a long time. This was evidenced by the stark changes in architectural style that certain buildings next to each other would have. And although many of the halls in the abbey have gothic arches, there are also living quarters - imperial living quarters - that are completely done up in Baroque style. I am told that the imperial residence rooms here at Klosterneuberg are rather similar to the rooms found at Schonbrunn Palace.
There was one piece of history there that stood out sharply from the rest of the abbey - the Verdun Altar. It is an incredible piece of medieval religious artwork.
There are three rows of pictures going across it, all of which tell a certain Biblical story. But each column of pictures is also supposed to share similar elements, even though they both depict different scenes from different stories!
After other events passed, we all ate dinner together at our first heuriger, where we got to chat a lot with the canons as we ate. One of them, Dom Gabriel, used to be a computer consultant in Santa Barbara. He said he's never regretted giving it up and coming out to Klosterneuberg. I can certainly sympathize with him. I don't think I'd like to have such a job like that. And even though I am admittedly not very religious, I would find being a canon much more fulfilling somehow.
The German word of the day is "bereit," meaning "ready."
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