Name: ウィーンとドナウ川 (Vienna and the Danube)
Uploaded: 2021-01-14T05:44:10.000Z
Duration: 24 min 58 s
Description: VoiceTubeの動画で発音を聞きながら英語表現を覚えよう！学べる英語：

Hi, I'm Rick Steves, back with more of the best of Europe.

This time we're celebrating the good life in Vienna.

When I think about Vienna, I think  about good living:

elegant parks, romantic Danube River, imperial art collections, and great music.

After centuries of rule by the Habsburg family, today the people are calling the shots...

We'll marvel at the awe-inspiring Schonnbrunn Palace and enjoy the imperial city's fine

art, then we'll relax in a hillside wine garden. And we'll visit a world class opera house

and catch a little Klimt before touring the Danube countryside with its striking Melk

Vienna was the grand capital of the formerly grand Habsburg Empire - which once stretched

across much of Europe. Its superpower days are now long gone. And today, the city enjoys

the cultural and physical remnants of its Imperial age as both an inspiration and a

Vienna sits along the Danube River. St. Stephen's Cathedral marks the center of town. The old

town - with most of the top sights - is bound tightly by the Ringstrasse, marking what used

The palaces of the imperial Habsburg family still create a buzz. The Royal family wintered

downtown in their Hofburg Palace and they summered here - at the Schönbrunn Palace.

Among Europe's grandiose palaces, only Schönbrunn rivals Versailles. It's big, with over 1400

rooms, but don't worry - only 40 are shown to the public.

While the exterior is Baroque - the favored style of divine monarchs in the 17th century,

much of the interior was finished under Maria Theresa in Rococo - the frillier let-them-eat-cake

style that followed. The chandeliers are either of Bohemian crystal or of hand-carved wood

shiny with gold-leaf. This one was lit by 72 candles.

Maria Theresa, who ruled in the late 1700s, was the only woman to officially run the Habsburg

Empire in that family's six century reign. She was a strong and effective empress famous

as the mother of 16 children - most of whom survived to adulthood. Imagine that the most

powerful woman in Europe was either pregnant or had a newborn for over half of her 40 year

The original practitioner of "make love not war," Maria Theresa expanded her empire while

avoiding wars by cleverly marrying her children into other royal families. During her reign

the rest of Europe recognized Austria as a great power. Her rival, the Prussian emperor,

said, "When at last the Habsburgs get a great man, it's a woman."

In room after luxurious room, the palace heralds the story of a powerful family. Frescos in

the grand ballroom were propaganda: the good life under Maria Theresa. A contemporary of

George Washington - but worlds apart politically, she presides like the divine monarch she was

over a vast multi-ethnic empire at peace: Tuscany with the bottles of good Chianti,

the Netherlands with the wild sea, Hungarians with their Magyar hats and animals were all

part of her realm in about 1750. There was peace - but only through strength. This fresco

shows off her state-of-the art military. Her infantry moves forward in alternating lines,

firing and loading with a horrifying speed and efficiency.

A walk through the imperial garden, now overrun with commoners, celebrates the evolution of

our society from autocracy to democracy. It's been nearly a century since the last emperor

checked out. And, if access to once out-of-bounds royal gardens is any measure, the people are

While the Habsburgs may be gone, their appreciation of finer living is alive and well, as you'll

learn in the cafes. For many Viennese, the living room is down the street at the neighborhood

coffeehouse. Each comes with its own individual character. The venerable Café Sperl is still

furnished just as it was on the day it opened back in 1880.

While a bit tired, often smoky and with a shabby patina, a Viennese café is a welcoming

place. They offer light lunches, fresh pastries, a wide selection of newspapers, and "take

all the time you want" charm for the price of a cup of coffee.

Divine monarchs like the Habsburgs liked their art divine too, in other words, Baroque. Charles

Church offers perhaps the best Baroque in Vienna with the unique combination of columns,

a classic pediment and an elliptical dome. We're dropping in for a peek at the painstaking

and costly restoration work going on all the time to keep the cultural treasures of Europe

looking good. Here, tourist admissions help pay the bill.

The church, which dates to the early 1700s, was built and decorated with a scaffolding

system essentially the same as this one. Ascending the elevator high into the dome, you're in

the clouds with cupids and angels. Many details that appear refined and realistic from ground

level - such as gold leaf, frescos, and fake marble - look rough and sloppy up close. It's

surreal to observe these distorted figures from this unintended angle.

As always, the art had a purpose; teaching...or propaganda - depending on your perspective.

Here, Faith, Hope, Charity, and Catholic priests triumph and inspire - while Protestants and

their trouble-making books are trashed. At the very top, you'll see the tiny dove representing

the Holy Spirit, surrounded by a cheering squad of nipple-lipped cupids.

Nearby, Imperial Austria's greatest leader, Maria Theresa, looks upon the country's greatest

collection of art, the Kunsthistorisches Museum. As you enter, you'll be dazzled by the space

and reminded of the former glory of the Habsburg's multi-national empire.

At their peak of power in the 1500s, the Habsburg family ruled Austria, Germany, northern Italy,

the Netherlands, even Spain. And this museum offers great art from throughout the realm.

The Italian collection is particularly strong.

Around the year 1500, Italy had a Renaissance, or "rebirth," of interest in the art and learning

of ancient Greece and Rome. In painting, that meant that Greek gods joined saints and angels

The collection spans the all-stars of the Italian Renaissance:

Titian - the Venetian - seemed particular intimate with the pre-Christian gods and their

antics. Here, in Mars, Venus and Amor, a busy cupid oversees the goddess of love making

her case that war is not the answer. Mars - his weapons blissfully discarded, sees her

The 22-year-old Raphael captured the spirit of the High Renaissance, combining symmetry,

grace, beauty and emotion. His Madonna of the Meadow is a mountain of motherly love.

Mary's head is the summit and her flowing robe is the base - enfolding baby Jesus and

John the Baptist. The geometric perfection, serene landscape, and Mary's adoring face

make this a masterpiece of sheer grace. But the cross the little tykes play with foreshadows

As the baroque age succeeds the Renaissance, it brings more emotion and melodrama. Caravaggio's

Rosenkranz Madonna provides a strong contrast to Raphael's super-sweet Madonnas. Caravaggio

shocked the art world with brutally honest reality - ordinary Madonnas, hands that seem

In David with the Head of Goliath, Caravaggio turns a harsh light on a familiar Bible story.

David shows off the dripping head of the slain giant. The painting, bled of color, is like

a black-and-white crime-scene photo. This David is not a heroic Renaissance Man like

Michelangelo's famous statue, but a homeless teen that Caravaggio hired off the street.

And the severed head of Goliath...is none other than Caravaggio himself, an in-your-face

Art of the Northern "Renaissance" was different. Funded by the economic boom from Flemish and

Dutch trading, it was more secular and Protestant than the Catholic-funded art of the Italian

字幕リスト動画再生

ウィーンとドナウ川 (Vienna and the Danube)

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