|
Graben - its name translates as "ditches" - was once a moat that lay outside the Roman camp. It was filled in sometime in the thirteenth century and, like Karntnerstrasse, was widened at the beginning of the nineteenth century, from which era most of its buildings date. The most conspicuous monument on Graben is the Pestsaule , or plague column, a towering, amorphous mass of swirling clouds, saints and cherubs, covered in a cobweb of netting to keep the pigeons off. Ostensibly erected to commemorate the end of the 1679 plague, this monument - like similar ones throughout the empire - was raised on the initiative of the Jesuits, to celebrate deliverance from the Protestant or Turkish "plague". The Pestsaule, in addition to the Hildebrandt-designed Bartolotti-Partenfeld palace, at no. 11 on the corner of Dorotheergasse, are the only survivors of the Baroque era on Graben. More arresting, though, are the shop fronts by Hans Hollein from the 1960s and 1970s, in particular the Schullin (now Deutsch) jewellers , Graben 26, a polished marble facade spliced by a seam of gold which trickles down into the doorframe. Set back slightly from Graben, occupying a little square of its own, is the Peterskirche , completed by Hildebrandt in 1733, and without doubt the finest Baroque church in the Innere Stadt. From the outside, the great green oval dome overwhelms the church's twin towers; inside, the dome's fresco by Johann Michael Rottmayr is difficult to discern, leaving the High Baroque side altars and the trompe l'oeil ceiling painting in the choir to create a sense of theatrics. The lavish gilded pulpit is truly magnificent, but the most dramatic work of art is the monument opposite, designed by Lorenzo Matielli and depicting St John of Nepomuk being thrown off Prague's Charles Bridge by some nasty-looking Czech bullyboys, with Vaclav IV in Roman garb directing the proceedings.
Your Tip for Graben
Help other backpackers! Write your own guides and backpacking tips to Graben - they will appear instantly on this page - Please only write a tip/guide to Graben - visit the main Graben forum to ask a question!
Please do not post links to your site here (they won't work) - please use the Graben webguide section below! Thanks.
|
