01-Secession Building. Architect Joseph Maria Olbrich was fully aware of the provocation that would be caused by the exhibition pavilion he designed in 1898 for the Wiener Secession, a society of artists founded in 1897.
02-Secession. Built on a site provided by the city, the building is one of the best-known examples of European architecture at the transition from Historicism to Modernism.
03-Secession. A front building with an exhibition hall behind, with distinctly separate volumes. The plain exterior is animated only by sparingly applied ornament. The dark tower shows up in a later photo of the Nashmarkt.
04-Secession. The building is known affectionately by the Viennese as the "golden head of cabbage" because of its dome of 3,000 gilded wrought-iron laurel leaves.
05-Secession. Above the entrance is a programmatic inscription, "Der Zeit ihre Kunst, der Kunst ihre Freiheit" ("To every age its art, to every art its freedom" — Ludwig Hevesi).
06-Secession. The temple-like entrance contrasts with the sober functionality of the exhibition hall behind it. The art magazine Ver Sacrum (Sacred Spring) played an important role in the Secessionist movement.
07-A slightly different translation: "For every time its art; for art its freedom.'
08-Corner detail. The Secession Movement was founded in 1897 by artists led by Gustav Klimt who had split with the conservative Kunstlerhaus.
09-Naschmarkt. These food stalls are diagonally across the street from Secession and extend several blocks to Majolica Haus.
10-Naschmarkt. Looks like a great place, but I got there after lunch and too early for dinner.
11-Majolica Haus on Linke Wienzeile, near the center of Vienna. Focus is on the two apartment blocks on the right, no. 38 (far right) and no. 40 (Majolica Haus), both built around 1900. At the time they were felt to be 'hideous beyond measure.' Compare with the white Baroque building on the left.
12-Number 40, the so-called Majolica Haus by architect Otto Wagner, was named after the flowered tile which covers the facade. The bottom two floors are treated as a base with ironwork that extends the influence of the shops up into the second floor with a narrow balcony.
13-Majolica Haus. On both sides, the junction between buildings is managed by a layer of balconies.
14-Majolica Haus. There is a gradation of detail and color from the bottom to the top: the green iron base, a gradual increase in complexity of the floral pattern from red to green and capped with lion heads in relief, and an elaborate overhanging eave.
15-Majolica Haus detail. In 1899, Otto Wagner left the Künsterhaus which had recommended him for these two biuildings and joined the Secessionists.
16-Schwarzenberg Platz is the location of the Red Army Liberation Monument and the high-jet fountain. The bottom line of the placard reads: "Vienna–A city introduces itself."
17-High-jet fountain in front of the Red Army Liberation Monument
18-Liberation Monument of the Red Army in Schwarzenbergplatz–a reminder of Vienna’s postwar history.
19-Liberation Monument
20-Liberation Monument
21-Liberation Monument. Schwarzenbergplatz was part of the Soviet zone and was renamed Stalinplatz at the time.
22-Liberation Monument detail
23-Liberation Monument detail
24-Liberation Monument detail. Hammer and sickle at center of the shield.
25-Liberation Monument detail.
26-Schwarzenbergplatz Fountain
