Day 06–Tuesday, May 26
https://www.flickr.com/cameraroll
Vienna:: day trip to Geras Abbey (1:30 hour drive) and
tour/travel back to Vienna/wine vineyard Austrian dinner/hotel in Vienna
This morning we had a
come-and-go-as-you-please breakfast at the hotel and we jumped on the bus.
There was a short walk to the bus today—I guess Hans didn’t feel like parallel
parking a tour bus on a one lane one-way street, again.
We received great St. Norbert
College news this morning! Tom Kunkel, President, has been interviewed by the
BBC about his book, “Man in Profile.”
Apparently, they’re anticipating 6-7 million listeners! We’re hoping to track
down the interview later. If we track it down I’ll post it.
We headed to Geras for an Abbey tour
and lunch. There’s been so much food on this trip! I may never be hungry again.
At Geras—we will be introduced to a
bi-ritual (a word I’ve never hear before) Abbot, in Byzantine and Latin
traditions. Founded as a double monastery, Pernegg and Geras were connected at
one point. Pernegg began as a convent and has changed into an educational
facility today. This is probably less visited as an Abbey due to size, location
and resources. But never-the-less, it has the same sorts of stunning Baroque
work inside. This Abbey has been torn down and rebuilt a few times. Their
architecture tells the story of almost all recorded art history. It spans from
before Medieval through Baroque with subtle and obvious examples of each of
those styles, and some in between.
The church was built as Gothic, and
was severely damaged. It was and later rebuilt in the 1600s. While rebuilding,
the interiors were transformed into a Baroque space. The walls are polished
stucco that appears to be marble upon first glance. There is an uncommon
movement through the ceilings—the thicker sections cover old Gothic relief work
in the architecture; the thinner sections are now plastered instead of stone
and have frescoes in every opening. I found this transformation particularly
interesting, once told about it, suddenly all the Gothic scrolls are noticeable
and peeking out below the trompe l’oeil (trick the eye, painting 2D as
3D complete with perspective and shadows) columns in fresco. The fresco columns
have a similar scroll painted on top, in a forced perspective.
Besides me almost getting locked
into the library, it was a very nice tour. The Abbot told me he was just trying
to keep me so I’d become a nun, and then he laughed.
We toured though the facility with
the Abbot and they are most well known for Jakov Kern, who was Beatified by a
former Pope. Jakov is from and his remains are at Geras. He was ordained priest
but died on the day he was to take his Solem Vows.
We moved through the buildings
looking at art and the library, chambers, the Byzantine chapel, church and so
much more. They have a Byzantine chapel with Medieval Icons down the hall and
all over the altar covering. There is a rather romantic description of the difference
between iconography and that of perspective. Our guide describing perspective
as the convergence of the orthogonals (lines of perspective) in one point on
the canvas where with icons, the convergence happens at the one point of the
viewer and spans out around the art, flattening it. There’s layers to the altar
space, a screen of sorts covers the area from which the “Easter Light” comes
from. The screen has areas of openings that allow you to peek into the back
section, symbolic of the already here and not yet presence of the Easter Light.
They had many stories about their art and the movement
through the pieces. One ceiling was rimmed with figures nearer and farther from
Jesus. The Abbot told us this was an allegory of life and that it tells about
how our lives are richer and better nearer to Christ. This ceiling mural was
painted like a traditional painting at the boarder and as you looked toward the
center, opened up toward the heavens, with figures reaching down into space. An
angel holding the end of a cord in the mural, ended to be the chandelier in the
room.
They also have the Guinness world
record holding wooden chain, all from the same piece of wood, strewn throughout
the building. It goes up and down the stairs, in piles in corners, and along the
ceiling on the second floor. But don’t ask the Abbot about it, he asked it be
removed a year ago, he told us with a chuckle.
Story upon story upon story there,
no real surprise with a rich and long history. I’m sure I will be retelling
them for a long time.
Today ended with a vineyard dinner
in an authentic Austrian style. The food pallet, although delicious, was brown.
Everything was deep-fried from pork and chicken to mushrooms and cucumbers.
The evening with live on in infamy
in my mind–a relentless accordion player made it memorable for the entire
group.
Tomorrow we take a river boat on the
Danube to Bratislava and get on the bus there. We’ll travel to Trnava Abbey and
Convent and then back to Vienna.
