We spent our afternoon walking around the Volksgarten (‘people’s garden) that is now part of the grounds of the Habsburg Hofburg Palace. There is a very pretty rose garden and a fountain there.

We toured the Schatzkammer, the Imperial Treasury, that is part of the Hofburg Palace. The collection of articles from the long history of the Habsburg family and other royal branches in Europe is extensive. I’ve posted quite a number of photos, but many are not yet transferred from my camera, so I’ll be adding more to the collection once we return and I can organize them.

It is obvious when going thru the collection how intertwined religion and the monarchy were. A number of reliqueries, combinations of religious and state bodies (ex. Order of the Golden Fleece) meant that the King/Emperor, etc. was often both the religious head and head of state. Authentic or not, these reliqueries formed part of the religious faith which was central to the ruling monarchies. There was no separation of church and state.

2680 carat emerald container

The Habsburg family ruled the areas of countries that today includes all of part of: Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Spain, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Switzerland, Slovakia, Slovenia, with Vienna as the center of power of this dynastic family.

Read more in this Wikipedia article.

There’s so much to see and know about the history of one of the most important capitals in Europe and the role it played in shaping the face of Europe as it is today, that our brief stay here cannot capture.

Oh yeah, we dodged a bit of drizzle late this afternoon by having dinner at…. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.trzesniewski.at&quot;

A tiny little bier to go along with the little sandwiches. At €1.20 each, it’s hard to go wrong!

Tomorrow we leave for Salzburg (Austria) and then Bertchtesgaden (Germany) .

Photos on Flickr, as usual.