CENTRAL EUROPE AND THE HABSBURG DYNASTY

The Habsburg state was home to many cultures: Germans, Czechs, Slovenes, Magyars, Serbs, Bosnians, Croats and Italians... They lived in a wide variety of different religious communities, for example Catholic, Orthodox, Muslim and the Reformed Church, Protestants, Jews and others.

In the 18th century, the age of Enlightenment, great sovereigns such as Maria Theresia or Emperor Josef II introduced important reforms that were to play a role in settling the eastern areas of the realm after the long Turkish occupation. “GO EAST” was a challenge for the settlers of the time.

The power previously enjoyed by the Habsburg dynasty had mainly been achieved by means of family connections with the European nobility, as well as by the empire’s ingenious marriage policy. It is said that this is how the Habsburgs pursued their politics. However, the multi-cultural state was always characterized by unrest, great conflicts of interests, revolts and the freedom movements – particularly in the Balkans – that intensified at the beginning of the 20th century. The assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, the successor to the Habsburg throne, by a Serbian partisan in Sarajevo was the cause of the outbreak of the First World War. Austria’s defeat in the First World War led to the fall of the Habsburg dynasty.

Vienna

Vienna means the Stephansdom (St. Stephen’s Cathedral), Schloss Schönbrunn (Schönbrunn Palace), the Lippizaner stallions, the Staatsoper (State Opera) and the Burgtheater (National Theatre)… Vienna also stands for coffee houses and the famous Sachertorte, for waltzes and Strauss… Vienna, home to the famous Riesenrad (giant ferris-wheel) in the Prater and the Heurige (wine bars) in Grinzing… For centuries, Vienna has been a multi-cultural centre… Vienna is the people who live there and their famous Wiener Schmäh (typical Viennese humour)… Vienna is a world famous centre for classical music and offers an outstanding musical program.

Budapest

The unique location of the metropolis with its incomparable city panorama, its exquisite Danube bridges, famous buildings and great cultural and musical scene guarantees a memorable stay. Budapest is many things: the castle quarter, the Fisherman’s Bastion with the Old Town in Buda, the world-famous parliament building, the broad avenues leading to the Heroes’ Square of the Hungarian kings with the Victory Column surrounded by museums; Budapest is the Vaci utca, the shopping street with many small shops, it is the coffee houses and the confectioneries, for example, the Gerbeaud; Budapest is famous Hungarian cooking – it’s not Hungarian if it doesn’t include paprika – and it is also the gypsy music, which becomes one with the city and with Hungary.

Prague

Prague is the magic city of bridges, cathedrals, gold-pleated towers and domes of churches, as well as a modern European metropolis, which has been mirrored in the surfaces of the Vltava River for more than ten centuries. Prague is as well the city of unique symbiosis of various building styles. It is full of romantic isles as well as architectural treasures in the historic centre. The development of the European architecture left splendid representatives of various style periods. We can admire Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque as well as classical buildings or various pseudo-style elements or Art Nouveau. Prague is also a green city. The hills under the Prague Castle, for example, have been presenting the aims of Baroque architecture to combine building of palaces with creating gardens full of pavilions and arbors.