Die Hofburg

I headed next to the Hofburg, the royal residence of the Hapsburgs. Much of it is open to the public and it houses various museums. You could spend days there and not see it all. Just before entering the complex I encountered a uniformed marching band that processed out of the courtyard playing Viennese favorites, to the delight of the tourists (including myself!). I opted to visit the Schatzkammer (Imperial treasury) which houses the collection of royal crowns, robes and other artifacts of the Hapsburgs (and some Napoleanic stuff thrown in as well). The array and quality of treasure is mind boggling. (The pic shows a small part of a ceremonial necklace in solid gold.) The exhibit also provides a useful overview of the rise of the Hapsburgs. It seems that they suffered from a perpetual identity crisis and spent much of their time attempting to prop up their legitimacy as rulers of a far-flung empire by erecting grand buildings all over the place. It was their intention to impress everyone with their imperial might: We're here and we're Hapsburgs -- and don't you forget it! The Hofburg is impressive, no doubt about that. So is the rest of Vienna. Graz, with all its small town charm, is small potatoes compared to the Imperial capital. With the demise of the Holy Roman Empire which spluttered to a close and finally bought the farm in 1804, Franz I declared himself Emperor of the remainder of Hapsburg holdings which became the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It always was an unnatural arrangement as a small minority of Austrians lorded it over a restive population of Slavs, Huns, Turks, Italians, etc. It all came crashing down at the end of the Great War.