The golden statue of Johann Baptiste Strauss in the Vienna City Park is one of the most photographed monuments in the Austrian capital. His father, also Johann Batis Strauss, was a composer. His two brothers Joseph and Edward were also composers. Their father’s grandfather was born in Buda and, being a Jew who converted to Christianity, opened his way to a big world for his children. Of all the talented descendants of Johann Michael Strauss, only the great-grandson of Johann Baptiste received the permanent title “King of Waltz”. In 1903, four years after the death of Strauss, a committee was convened under the chairmanship of Princess Rosa Croy-Sternberg (1836-1918) whose task was to develop a monument in honor of the composer. Initially, it was planned to create an entire structure and allocate a special place for it in the city, and only in 1907, the current location in the city park was chosen. The Vienna City Council announced in 1905 the amount of its participation in the project in the amount of 10,000 kroons (which was not paid until 1913) and in the next 1906 the committee announced a competition. Among other candidates, it was attended by the architect Alfred Castelliz (1870-1940), sculptors Franz Metzner and Edmund Hellmer, whose project was unanimously approved by the committee. However, the execution of the project was postponed. On the one hand, due to funding problems, and on the other, due to the outbreak of the First World War. In the end, on January 23, 1920, the Vienna City Council again allocated funding, and on June 26, 1921, the grand opening of the monument took place, during which the new Vienna Philharmonic was presented to the crowns. In 1935, the gilding of the statue was damaged (the Jewish past of the composer was remembered), and only in 1991 the original condition of the monument was restored. In 2011, a comprehensive reconstruction was carried out from the foundation to the statue, which cost about 300,000 euros. Replicas of the statue can be found since the 1990 Expo in Osaka (Japan), starting from the 1999 Expo in Kunming (China), from 2002 in Los Coleshales Park in Havana (Cuba) and from 2016 in front of the Shanghai Tower. Translated with Google Translate
City park as a house book. As soon as the yellowed sheets are touched, the city will begin to dump its stories with enthusiasm. They will be written in calligraphic handwriting with classic curls, imitating the era, or chopped pen strokes, in accordance with the directives of the time. With crafty boasting, they will hoist glorious citizens on a pedestal or, like skeletons in a closet, hide their obscene acts in the shadow of distant alleys. His trees whisper past rumors, ponds keep silent secrets, and swarms of pigeons sweep dried leaves from the tracks like dust from a book cover. And the longer you stay in the park, the more you understand that time puts everything in its place, passions disappear and only heaven and silence patronize the living, contemplating the earthly vanity from above. Such a city park in Vienna. Translated with Google Translate
Don't be afraid to get lost in new places!
