Love affairs with architects

 Until moving to Wienna I had absolutely no interest in anything architecture related. In fact, this is not even true, it was just something I never thought about. Now I actually love it. Two architects in particular appeal to me. The first of these is Friedensreich Hundertwasser, the painter turned architect. He designed the Kunst Haus Wien, which is two doors down from my apartment and also a social housing project, the Hundertwasser Haus. I will eventually put up some pictures of these two buildings as they are lovely and colourful, but today here are some pictures of the Müllverbrennungsanlage Spittelau (heating plant/incinerator type thing). I am not exactly sure what purpose it serves but it is very modern looking and is environmentally friendly I think. I really like it because I love shiny things and mosaic patterns and black and white:

 As a random aside, I think spring is finally on its way. Today I was able to wear jeans with no leggings underneath and shoes with no socks. Shock! Horror!

 On my wanderings today I also went to the Esterhazy Park, where the Haus des Meeres (aquarium) is in an old flak tower from WW2.

 I am not really sure why, but I really like it. There is writing around the top that says "Shattered into pieces in the still of the night" in English and German.
And now to my real lover. Otto Wagner. In my opinion there is not enough Jugendstil (Art Nouveau) in the world. If I were in charge it would be EVERYWHERE. Luckily for Kaiser Franz Josef, he had the power to put these desires into action and had this pavillion built at the U Bahn station in Hietzing:

 I love the colours and the style and how pretty it all looks. When I get round to sorting out the photos for another wander I took the other week I will post many more pictures of Wagner's triumphs. He was, in my humble opinion, a legend. Now, as you have seen in a previous post from January (I think) I went to the Kirche am Steinhof and loved it.

 Today I went back to the Lemoniberg (so nicknamed because the golden dome of the church looks like a lemon. Clever, eh?) because the church is open to visitors from 3-5 on a Saturday afternoon. Having looked up the opening times, I arrived about 3.10 only to be told that from 3-4 a tour takes place and only after that can people look around for themselves. Luckily it was sunny and quite warm so I sat outside and admired the work of Mr Wagner.

 Luckily, it was well worth the wait to get inside:

Everything is beautiful.. I think the mosaics on the walls and the stained glass windows were designed by Kolo Moser, another clever Jugendstil man. 

 For a long time I have wanted a chandelier in my room. Now I would like one of these:

 This dome is behind the altar:

Even as someone with no religious beliefs whatsoever I can still appreciate all the gold and loveliness of the angels.

It's a shame it's open so infrequently, otherwise I would definitely go out there on a regular basis because I don't think I will ever get bored of looking at things created by Otto Wagner. That is all for now but expect more ramblings soon, I have an awful lot more photos of Jugendstil things to bombard you with!