Get the violins ready!! After an afternoon of rest, I hobbled back on the bus to visit the magnificent Liechtenstein City Palace for a private concert of Mozart and Strauss classical masterpieces.
First a short introduction to the palace from the above website:
This City Palace is privately owned by the princely Liechtenstein family and after extensive renovation is now run on a commercial basis as a concert, wedding and conference venue. The top two floors of the City Palace have one of the best Baroque grand staircases in Vienna. The Staterooms are adorned with Baroque stucco ceilings and opulent neo-Rococo interiors, and include the original furnishings, precious silk hangings and refined parquet floors.
The first photo shows the ornate chandelier in the room in which the Cocktail reception was held. It weighs over 2 tons. The other photo shows some of the decoration in the concert room.
Construction of the Liechtenstein City Palace began in 1691. In 1694, Prince Johann Adam Andreas I of Liechtenstein completed the construction. Prince Alois II von Liechtenstein had the palace remodelled in the style of the "Second Rococo" between 1836 and 1847. The building was also famous in the 19th century for its technical refinements: an elevator over four floors (Much appreciated by me – I didn't fancy all those steps however grand the staircase!), internal intercom with correspondence tubes made from rubber and silk, hot air heating with outlet vents cleverly integrated into the wall panelling. In the Second World War, serious damage was caused by bomb hits and an aircraft which crashed into the roof.
The concert included a couple of rousing polkas and waltzes from Strauss as well as a trio of Arias from Mozart Operas that I recognised but for the life of me I cannot recall which operas! I never did get to see the programme. Two members of the Vienna Boys Choir also gave a short and rather disappointing performance in my opinion compared with our Cathedral Boys' Choirs. The concert ended with much foot stamping – a rather gentle form of foot tapping in my case – of the Radinsky March that always ends the New Years Day Concert.
A return to the AmaVentia after a pleasant evening and our overnight sail to Budapest and our final destination.
