Wednesday 15 May 2013

Viennese Rooftop Views
The Museum of Natural History

Parapet Figures
line the roof of the Museum of Natural History.

Herodotus, the "Father of History",
is holding his hand out over the city.

The Parliament Building and City Hall
From the hills beyond, the vineyards of the 19th District,
and the trees of the Vienna Woods beckon.

The two belfries to the left,
beyond the Volksgarten's Rose Garden,
belong to Heinrich von Ferstel's Gothic Revival Votive Church
(Votivkirche), to the right the Burgtheater (Austrian National Theatre, formerly the Imperial Court Theatre),
sits opposite City Hall on Ringstrasse.

The Burgtheater
and the Volksgarten's Rose Garden.
The building in the background to the left
is the Main Building of the University of Vienna,
one of the oldest and largest universities in Europe.

The view here comprises the Ringstrasse at the bottom left, the Parliament Building and City Hall at the left margin of the picture, the Rose Garden and the Volksgarten in the center, and a corner of Heldenplatz to your right.

Turning to the right, past the Volksgarten, at the upper right, beyond the Chancellery at Ballhaus Platz, the roof and the belfry of the Minorite Church (Minoritenkirche) slide into view.

Heldenplatz
Heroes' Square
The Imperial Palace's (Hofburg) "Leopoldine Wing"
lines one side of the square.
Beyond the Hofburg,
the cupola of St. Peter's church,
and the tower of St.Stephen's Cathedral
are visible.

*

Vienna Rooftop Views

The Museum of Natural History
Photographed May 11, 2008
with my little Sony Cybershot
Images and Text © by Merisi
R e p o s t

20 comments:

  1. I love to imagine those parapet figures are guarding the Raymond Dart's precious Taung child specimen inside the museum.

    ReplyDelete
  2. What rooftop were you on?!? What a view!

    (I am lately enamoured of old Parliment Building architecture. Some of the coolest around!)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous07 June, 2008

    How wonderful to see these sweeping views...how on earth did you get among the statues on the NH museum?

    I am eager to see more ! Such a beautiful perspective.

    ReplyDelete
  4. @ Maalie:
    Oh, I am sure they are on the lookout for any approaching danger! The treasures of the museum are being guarded by Empress Maria Theresa herself, right there, at the entrance to the museum!

    ReplyDelete
  5. TIC ILLUSTRATIONS:
    Tara, I shot these photos from des Museum of Natural History. ;-)

    KURWENAL:
    Through the attic! ;-)
    I had not expected a view as spectacular as it was, that was really a pleasant surprise. I had been been up to about 70m over the Heldenplatz in a hot-air ballon (mongolfiere), and I thought that was quite interesting, but the museum rooftop beats that view by far.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Certainly and incredibly beautiful city. If New Orleans was as beautiful as this I wouldn't mind.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks for more of this beautiful city.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Whenever I see that word "parapet' I think of "parakeet"
    And it always makes for a more interesting sentence.
    See?
    "Parakeet figures line the roof of the Museum of Natural History."

    Herodotus looks like he's going to take off and do a few laps around the city.

    Thanks for these shots.
    It really puts all those places you show us into perspective.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I cannot begin to put into words how simply fantastic your photos are..the statues....the view from the museum rooftop...spectacular...

    An amazingly beautiful city...

    ReplyDelete
  10. Wonderful photos.
    One wants to be a bird!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous09 June, 2008

    Das sind aber Archivaufnahmen, denn jetzt schaut der Heldenplatz anders aus.
    Tolle Bilder, ich war noch nie "on top" im Naturhistorischen Museum.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. These pictures were taken in May 2008, quite recent back then! ;-)

      Delete
  12. Anonymous10 June, 2008

    One more time, you find a new point of view! great!

    ReplyDelete
  13. are you wearing robes of plaster?
    How did you get up on that roof?
    Are you a cat burgler looking for Kuglehopfs?

    ReplyDelete
  14. I always think how wonderful it is that these great cities charm us even on the hidden roof tops.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Hi Merisi, have had no laptop and the husby uses the desktop majorly and so here I am, finally back. A touch of red in clothing always makes a fashion statement. A touch of red in the photos above, on the flags, certainly makes these already wonderful images, just pop. Beautiful post~

    ReplyDelete
  16. What a thrill to be able to take in views like that and photograph them so beautifully too. Lovely!

    ReplyDelete
  17. These are so incredible, Merisi!! It's a rare time when I find myself speechless -- I do have a big mouth -- but the awesome beauty of these have done just that! Thanks, as always, for sharing!!

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for taking the time to leave a note.