Vienna

Fülszöveg

Vienna is generally accepled as i)eing one of the most beautiful cities in the world. It is also generally known to have deeply influenced intellectual life Cor many centuries from its location in the centre of Europe. But Vienna not merely boasts of a rich history, it also has a lively present and an exciting future - both of which are just as significant as its long tradition. This magnificent book does not attempt to ])resent Vienna as an open-air museum but rather as a modem city with well over a million itihabitants. Of course, Vienna's landmarks - the Hof-biu'g Palace and St. Stephen's Cathedral, the Ringstrasse and Art Nouveau buildings, the delightful streets of the Old City or the winegrowing areas on its periphery - still have their place in the scheme of things, but only within the context of the city's present: these motifs retain their historical dignity, but not characterised by a sclerotic form of nostalgia so often found in publications of this kind. They have been... Tovább

Fülszöveg

Vienna is generally accepled as i)eing one of the most beautiful cities in the world. It is also generally known to have deeply influenced intellectual life Cor many centuries from its location in the centre of Europe. But Vienna not merely boasts of a rich history, it also has a lively present and an exciting future - both of which are just as significant as its long tradition. This magnificent book does not attempt to ])resent Vienna as an open-air museum but rather as a modem city with well over a million itihabitants. Of course, Vienna's landmarks - the Hof-biu'g Palace and St. Stephen's Cathedral, the Ringstrasse and Art Nouveau buildings, the delightful streets of the Old City or the winegrowing areas on its periphery - still have their place in the scheme of things, but only within the context of the city's present: these motifs retain their historical dignity, but not characterised by a sclerotic form of nostalgia so often found in publications of this kind. They have been supplemented by Manfred Horváth's pictures of present-day Vienna, its new architecture and its cosmopolitan Lirt, cultural and entertainment venues, to form a colourful journey full of visual surprises. The photographs are accompanied by texts of international and Austrian 20th centuiy authors ^vho all share a very personal - and, indeed, sometimes ambivalent - view ofVienna and the Viennese. They include Ingeborg Bachmann, Gerhard Roth, H. C. Artmarm and Ernst Jandl, as well as Alfred Polgar and Karl Kraus.
The introduction was penned by one of the country's most talented journalists, a man who later went on to become the mayor of the city and an elder statesman familiar with all the idiosyncrasies of his subject: Helmut Zilk. To no small extent he can take credit that Vienna today exudes an active and cosmopolitan life alongside its wonderful, cultural heritage.
ViíiíLAG Christian Bkani:)STatteh Vissza