Vienna [antikvár]

Vienna in Perptlujíf Hístory and Myths Vienna is one of those rare towns in which the history of Central Europe has left deep and indelible traces, a wonder-ful place steeped in memories and rich cultural reminiscences, idiosyncratic, singular, unique in nature. Its monu-ments and its palaces, churches and squares teli of vanished life worlds and vanquished ideals, recounting memories of great emperors, heroes and saints, recalling desperate days and glorious achievements - a vivid and colourful mosaic of symbols, myths and legends that blends into a magic painting, a splendid rock stage on which the spe-cific face of Vienna becomes manifest. Proud of their home town, the Viennese have created their own maxim: "Wien bleibt Wien" - Vienna is and will always be a world of its own. A formula as catchy as it is banal, it still reflects not just the collective enthusiasm for waltz-ing and wine, but alsó expresses the self-confident insistence on traditions, the readiness to resist, if unavoidable, anything that goes against the grain. Kari Kraus, feared satirist and sharp critic of all that is empty-headed and smug, nevertheless and quite rightfully saw the threat inherent in the maxim: insisting on habits and usage may well indicate narrow-minded, ignorant insistence on the bourgeois, philistine and parochial. But if we look closer we perceive that the motto is actually designed to mean something entirely different: in insisting on their perpetuity, the Viennese point to the memorable achievements of their town, the glorious defence of Vienna against the Turks in 1529 and 1683, the resistance against the Nazi regime in 1938 to 1945; the recon-struction effort after World War II and the hectic competition for guests on today's tourism markets. Vienna has sur-vived through the vigour of its people, has held its own as a "strong" city, and its history can be truly and genuinely seen as a success. Located at the intersection between east and west, Vienna grew into the capital of the sovereign rulers of Austria, be-came the magnificent focus of the Holy Román Empire while still lying at its periphery; a centre of the arts, but alsó gateway and melting pot for the many who arrived from far away, intent on building a new home for themselves with the grim determination of those who have nothing to lose. Viewed from this angle, the motto alsó means that the capital of Austria has always been a cosmopolitan úrban centre, open to all who are ready to exert themselves and bind their fate to that of Vienna. Those who came were rich or poor, Bohemian housemaids or Spanish aristocrats, Jew-ish peddlers or Italian masterbuilders, Greek merchants or Germán scholars, adventurers or soldiers of fortune from all over Europe, looking for fame and wealth in the employ of the Habs-burgs. They all joined forces in creating resplendent imperial Vienna. "Old Vienna" had nothing to do with a Teutonic display of medievalised roman-ticism and hidebound small-mindedness, but had always been living from its international roots, its innumerable links to the many peoples and nations of Europe. The great culture which today attracts so many visitors from every-where in the world is the consequence of a mind open to the external, the foreign, which achieves integration without debasing itself by insisting that the newcomers deny their own culture. VIENNA