High Culture on a Low Budget: Vienna’s Universitat Grosser Festaal

It’s only appropriate that my first post should a) take place in Vienna, which is by far my favorite city, and b) be cheap but in a bit of an underground way. I’m not one to break the rules often while traveling (who am I kidding, of course I am), but here is a place worth sneaking into (and any potential embarrassment that may ensue if you’re caught).

The University’s main hall, der Grosser Festsaal, boasts an extraordinary ceiling fresco of Klimt’s Seven Pillars of Wisdom that I would pick seeing again over any piece of work in the Belvedere. Period. Pretend you’re a student or going in for a meeting—even better if there are crowds for a graduation or other such ceremony of which there are many in the spring—and run, don’t walk, to the Grosser Festsaal. It’s totally worth getting nabbed by security for, and if you plead the foreign aesthete card, they may even let you stay long enough to nab a digital photo or two (ladies, it’s worth wearing a low cut top). You can also get in while school is in session if you happen to be in Wien on a night when the university’s Chamber Orchestra is playing. It’s also a great way to get a dose of Schubert, Mozart, Dvorak, and Brahms.

There are three other paintings that Klimt had made for the University; known as the Faculty Paintings, these were representations of Philosophy, Jurisprudence, and Medicine. While they received raves (including a gold medal) in Paris, the prudish Viennese attacked them for violating every taboo in their rather large book. Klimt, no stranger to being attacked for obscenity, was refused a teaching position at the university and resolved never to take state commissions again. In fact, he didn’t get the paintings back until bringing out a shotgun. Sadly, these paintings were lost during the SS retreat in 1945, however sketches for Philosophy and Medicine can be found here (Philosophy) and here (Medicine).

The Universitat’s Klimt Ceiling © lukask

Vitals:
Universitat Wien
http://www.univie.ac.at
Universitatsstrase 7