Baker Street is at the heart of Old Vienna. The street dates back to an early medieval marketplace and now has the best-preserved Renaissance houses in the center of Vienna.
The street is an active commercial and residential area, so it's not meant to be a museum. But you can walk down the street and see tiny glimpses of what it was like in centuries past: this fresco remnant is a reminder that the buildings you see are so much older than you might imagine. Apparently being decorated with colorful frescos was how all of the homes were adorned in the 15th century. Unfortunately, there's not a lot of information from that day left to confirm or deny, thus the use of the word "apparently."
And this particular fresco? It's a wolf playing backgammon with a cow who happens to be wearing glasses. They are being watched by a gentleman who is described as a furrier. It's not a fun game of backgammon, though. Loser is meant to forgeit his skin to the man in red. How could you not want to know more about that?
But, alas, there isn't much else to go on. Some people believe the fresco is political in nature; the truth is, no one really knows what it is meant to communicate. There's a message the 15th century has left us and we have no idea if it's political rhetoric or if it's someone's idea of a hilarious joke.
Bäckerstraße has a lot to offer for the ancient history buff, but that would not be me, so we'll just saunter over to No. 7, Haus Stampa. As we saw yesterday, this is the old entrance for carriages. Our tour guide was very excited to see the hof open; it's apparently not open all the time, and as it is a private residence, you aren't meant to wander in if the doors are closed. When they are open, however, apparently all the local guides take their small private tours through.
What you see when you enter. You can see the bright windows and odd configuration of the exterior walls: this reflects what had been exterior walkways around the perimeter of the hof that have been closed in over the centuries in order to give more space to the apartments.
Here on the opposite side, you can see the balconies that have been left exposed:
These exterior balconies were the original connecting halls for the apartments! In order to save space, instead of having hallways inside, they were placed out of doors. Interesting concept, and in the protected hof areas, more sheilded from wind and weather than you might initially think.
And here we have the stabling area. I find it fascinating that it has been left intact. Part of the charm of Haus Stampa is that it has elements that date from the 1300s right through modern times. Wiki (translate from German) says: "Notable is the courtyard, which is one of the few remaining pillars courtyards of the Renaissance period in Vienna. ... The northwestern corner of the ground floor was used as a horse stable, so that here horses drinking and feeding metal baskets." Wiki
One of the classic sounds of Vienna is the sound of horses hooves as they clamber on the cobblestones pulling the faikers full of camera-happy tourists. It does make me smile to think of it even now.
The core of Haus Stampa dates back to the first half of the 13th century, with remnants beneath suggesting that buildings existed on the site prior. The changes during the ages are documented (although I won't list them here, assuming anyone who is that interested in the specific historical shifts and click the Wiki link), but for those of us who love the feel of history, these windows remain from the Gothic, 13th century period. Astonshing to think how long those windows have "looked out" on Vienna. And a bit ironic as they have probably been bricked up for centuries and don't actually "look out" on anything.
And with that, we leave Bäckerstraße and wander around the corner toward Mozart's House, where we find something extraordinary.
Next: In Which We Fail To Find Helen Mirren
Very cool! I love architecture and seeing the old stall is great fun.
Posted by: Rose | August 29, 2014 at 06:24 PM