Saturday 12 November 2011

It's official:
"Viennese Coffee Houses have a unique Place
within Austrian and World Culture."


Intangible Cultural Heritage in Austria
Viennese Coffee House Culture

"The tradition of the Viennese Coffee House Culture goes back to the end of the 17th century and is given distinction to by a very specific atmosphere. Typical for Viennese Coffee Houses are marble tables, on which the coffee is served, Thonet chairs, boxes (loges), newspaper tables and interior design details in the style of Historicism. Guests can choose from the selection of meals and drinks from early morning at 6am until midnight, while sometimes also enjoying readings and musical soirées. The coffee houses are a place 'where time and space are consumed, but only the coffee is found on the bill.'”
UNESCO United Nations
Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization
Austrian Commission for UNESCO
4th Inscription, October 2011


Let's start celebrating
at the venerated
Café Hawelka

Where once upon a time is now!


"... it must be said

that the Viennese coffeehouse

is a particular institution
which is not comparable to any other
in the world..."
*

* Stefan Zweig,
"The World of Yesterday.
Memories of a European"

I remember reading those lines
for the first time, far from Vienna,
and I have reread Zweig's poignant memoirs
a few times since.

It still seems unreal
that I live here now and
more than five years have passed
since I first set foot into Hawelka's.
I still think of Stefan Zweig
when I go there.

Hawelka's coffee Melange is among Vienna's best.
I often need two, to last me through my readings,
with a soft-boiled egg - brain food, you know.

Photographed by Merisi
on a Saturday morning in 2011
at Café Hawelka
Dorotheergasse
Vienna

8 comments:

  1. Norman Rockwell, these images remind me of his beautiful paintings! The coffee looks so good to me right now, the eggs, well, I have to doctor them up too much;)

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  2. Merisi, I did catch that sliver of the red car at the edge of the golden tree in your prior post.

    I also yearned to have a taste of the strawberry Napoleon in another prior post.

    What I did not do is have the time to finish the Stefan Zweig book I'd checked out the library a month ago. I very much admired his writing in the pages that I did read, and am going to return to the library's stacks to recover that novella collection and some other of the Zweig books I saw. What I need is time.

    If one visits a Viennese coffeehouse and has a good attitude, is it possible to change the length of time? I so need to be able to discover this secret skill, to create time where it does not currently seem to exist.

    How I do love all your posts! xo

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  3. Haven't dropped by lately, but glad I did, today.

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  4. they should add yr name to that listing

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  5. War gerade heute dort. Vielleicht haben wir uns sogar gesehen?!? :-)

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  6. Probably lots of politics talked in those coffee houses.

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  7. BrittArnhild13 November, 2011

    Wonderful.
    Now I am looking forward the the official Merisi Coffee House guide :-)

    ReplyDelete

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