Tuesday 16 January 2007

Arcades and Passageways in the First District

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Opera Passage


Passage along St. Augustine's Church
Opens up to Josefsplatz (St. Joseph's Square)


Grosses Michaelerhaus (1720) at Kohlmarkt
(Heisenberg Tea Shop, near Demel's)


Grosses Michaelerhaus


Palais Ferstel Arcade




Passageway from Palais Ferstel to Palais Harrach


Courtyard along the Ferstel to Harrach passageway


Michaelertor (St. Michael's Gate)
leading from Heldenplatz
through the Hofburg (Imperial Palace)
to Michaelerplatz and on to Kohlmarkt


Michaelertor
(St. Michael's Church in the background)

One could spend days exploring the city of Vienna, meandering through its many arcades, passageways, narrow interior walkways connecting buildings and courtyards. Sometimes you realize there's an open door where you never noticed one before, and you walk in, continuing on and on, through a maze of courtyards and staircases, and suddenly it seems as if you're in a different part of town and century, and yet, you are still within the same city block you started out in.
And hopefully still in the same century. ;-

*

3 comments:

  1. Loved your description. :-)

    Since I'm seeing everything right now in terms of drawing, those arched corridors actually scare me a bit! The formal perspective required to reproduce those in pencil form makes my very tired brain hurt!

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  2. Beautiful...I love arcades. Bologna is full of them...

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  3. Tic illustration:
    I'll send you on a relaxing window shopping trip soon, no arches involved. ;-)

    ParisBreakfast:
    Oh, no, Bologna. 46 km of arcades, if I remember correctly. Love them, around Christmas espescially. Not been there in ages .... swoon .... wanna go .... now. *sigh*

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