Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1872-11-28
vienlla.

vienna, afcmtecttlrally, 10 an agree.
able disappointment to most strangers,
as it certainly was to me at my first
visit. Few persons expect to find so
many handsome buildings, such fine
squares, and such fine place as the
glacis-the circle around the inner or
old city. Walking or driving ON that
splendid esplanade, Vienna seems the
most magnificent clty in Europe; but
when you enter the narrow thorough
fares, lined with high houses, rodiating
like o spiders web from q central point
near the cathedral, become entangled
in the numerous minor streets and al
leys, or invade any of the thirty four
suburbs -as the new parts of the town
are called-your earliest impression is
materially married. The old city is
nearly circular in form, and some three
miles in circumference while the en-
tire circuit of Vienna is nearly sixteen
miles. Tho inner part was formerly
surrounded by Notifications and deep
ditch but these have been leveled
aud filed up, and the space they occu-
pied is now added to tho promenade.
Of the twelve gates by which the in
terror of the city was once entered,
the Palace and Francis Joseph gates
alone remain. The Emperor has q pas
sion for building. He is as anxious
to beautify Vienna as Louis Napo-
Icon was TO beautify Paris. He has
spent immense sums to this end, and
is still lavish. with the nations purse,
Notwithstanding the deranged condl.
ton of Austria's finances, and, SO far
% amount is concerned, her eminent
" respectable debt. The new Opera
House, Commercial. Academy, Hall of
the Horticultural Society, and Academ-
lc Gymnasium are expensive aud i'm
posing structures, as will be, when
completed, the new University, Town
Hall, Theatre of the Musical Society,
Museum Buildings, Artists Hall, and
Parliament House.
One of the peculiarities of Vienna is
its vast edifices (Hofe), largely owned
by the 1bbeys and ecclesiastical socie-
ties Of Austria, which may be consid-
erod tenement houses on an ample
scale. Among the most extensive OF
these is tho Schottenhof (named after
the Scotch Benedictines who resided
there several centuries ago, but were
subsequently superseded by the Ger.
man monksl the Melkerhof, the prop
erty of the abbey of Molk, the Trait.
nerhof, Galvagnihof Heinrichhof, and
others, in each of which from three to
five hundred persons reside. The Bur.
ger Hospital, q vast building, contains
ten courts and some fourteen hundred
inmates, while the still more spacious
Interchangeable Freihaus and the
ROthes Haus furnish accommodations
for about two thousand persons apiece.
Most of the buildings in the city are
built about courtyard with q COM
mon stairway, as they are in France,
Italy and Germany, q number of fami-
lies occupying each building. Vienna
is one of the compactest of cities, and
it is astonishing to see how many per-
sons can find shelter and preserve their
health there in so limited space. The
population ia six hundred and seventy
five thousand, of which one thousand
are Greeks, eleven thousand Jews, thir-
teen thousand Professionals, and all the
rest koman Catholics, including O gar
rison of thirty thousand men.
Vienna has had q checkered history.
Originally an ancient settlement Of
Celts or of Wends, it fell into the hands
of the Romans. Marcus Aurelius died.
and the sensual Emperor Gallienus liv-
ed there for some time. The Huns, the
Rugii, the Herui, and Ostrogoths ruled
it, and were expelled in turn by other
barbarian hordes. At the close of the
eighth century Charlemagne acquired
it by conquest, and after various for
tunes, held and lost by Hungarians and
the Hapsburgs, the renowned Rudolph
secured it and transmitted it to lii
posterity. In 1919 the Emperor Maxi.
! milan I. entertained there Wadislaw,
King of Bohemia and Hungary, and
Sigismund, King of Poland, and b,
tact and diplomacy SO married his chill
dren that Bohemia, Hungary, and Mo
ravia fell to the crown Of Austria
These highly advantageous union:
originated the distich:
Bella gorant ali, tn folk Austria nubc;
Nam qun Mars aliis, dat tibi regina Venus"
The city has been twice besieged b,
the Turks; the French have held it
and the Prussians, only five years ago
dictated terms of peace to Austria al
most within sight of St. Stephen,
tower.