Austria's Heartland: 1000 years of art and culture

The historical and cultural heartbeat of Austria began to pulse 25,000 years ago in an area roughly located between Linz and Vienna, in the present-day states of Upper and Lower Austria. Its main artery, the river Danube, has carved out a picturesque landscape, from the narrow Wachau valley dominated by bountiful vineyards and orchards, to the wide Vienna basin where the forested highlands of the Vienna Woods are bounded by the Danube. After the fall of Roman power, the region was reorganised by the Carolingians who established a march, or borderland, at the eastern outpost of the Frankish Empire named the Marcha Orientalis or ‘Ostarrichi’ (Austria). The noble Babenberg family, enfeoffed with ‘Ostarrichi’ in 976, further cultivated the land through the foundation of well-endowed abbeys such as Heiligenkreuz and Klosterneuburg, where the seat of government was initially established. Later relocated to Vienna, Austria was elevated to the rank of an independent duchy in 1156. The Babenberg dukes of Austria fostered a Vienna that further flourished under successors from the House of Habsburg but before long, the expansion of the Ottoman Empire developed into a constant threat for all of Austria’s eastern lands. The Battle of Vienna in 1683 marked a turning point in the success of the Ottomans, who were forced to retreat, and a building boom rolled across Austria. Ancient abbeys like St Florian, Melk and Klosterneuburg, now in a deplorable state, were rebuilt in awe-inspiring Baroque dimensions and decoration. The dawn of the 19th century heralded a new artistic era: glorious historicist architecture, from the neo-Gothic Castle Franzensburg in Laxenburg, to the spectacular buildings of the Vienna Ringstrasse, shaped not just the capital but also neighbouring St. Pölten. At the turn of the 20th century, both cities began to temper this eclectic aesthetic with the new Art Nouveau style, becoming prominent proponents of the movement’s art and architecture.