World War One Memorial, Dom, Graz, Austria 1
There were 53 million people in the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the start of World War I. By the end, 1,200,000-1,494,200 of these men and women were dead or missing in military action; another 467,000 civilians had died of disease or malnutrition. If you want to get a sense of how
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World War One Memorial, Dom, Graz, Austria 2
With one eye laughing, Austrians went off to war in 1914 with flowers and tinsel in their hats. They quickly realized they would need helmets. What’s more, they started it. In a tinder keg of aggression – with Wilhelm II of Germany and Great Britain building up their naval fleets
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Mausoleum & St. Catherine’s Church, Graz, Austria 1
If nothing else, the Habsburgs believed in making a grand exit. In 1614, Archduke Ferdinand commissioned his beloved court architect Giovanni Pietro de Pomis to build his Mausoleum and St. Catherine’s Church (both pictured here). But when Ferdinand became Emperor and de Pomis died, the half-finished Mausoleum was left to
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Mausoleum & St. Catherine’s Church, Graz, Austria 2
The golden Mausoleum of Ferdinand II and its church are the brainchild of Giovanni Pietro de Pomis. Muli-talented Italians have a long history of prettifying Graz. A Lombardian by birth, de Pomis was the court artist and favored pet of Ferdinand II. Like Domenico dell’Allio, de Pomis earned his keep as
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Mausoleum of Ferdinand II, Graz, Austria
Here lies Emperor Ferdinand II, scourge of the Protestants, protector of the faith, and – to be honest – a Class A twit. Born in Graz in 1578, Ferdinand II was educated by Jesuits. At that time, Protestantism was the dominant religion in his homeland: “According to later estimates, no
Leading the Way, Corpus Christi Procession, Graz, Austria
The joyous feast of Corpus Christi honors the presence of body and blood of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. It takes place on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday. June 4, 2015 was a public holiday in Graz, and many spectators lined up near the Dom, along the Herrengasse, and in
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