Our trip to Klosterneuburg serves as another great reminder of why I am thankful I went on this trip with Kathy Stuart and didn't just try to see Vienna on my own. Her friend father Ambrose, who is a Catholic Canon living here, had this lively personality and wit that made for a fantastic tour. Some things he said may or may not have been correct, like when Kathy noted the Plague Column in der Graben in a painting and he insisted that it was a trinity column in Frankfurt. Not only did the description of the painting say Vienna, I could see emperor Leopold's chin in the painting from 10 feet away where I was standing.
But either way I really appreciated his expertise and willingness to answer my questions. Most of my questions had to deal with the difference in iconography and religious symbolism in Protestant and Catholic artifacts, like those we were looking at. I thought he had an interesting vantage point, being a man who grew up in the Protestant South of the US and then having converted to Catholicism and living in a monastery in Austria.
These communion chalices, for example, I had to ask what made them particularly Catholic in the symbolism they used. He answered that it wasn't necessarily about the symbolism with these chalices, because they mostly depicted Jesus Christ, who both Protestants and Catholics worship, but that it was the opulence of them that made them Catholic. There is an idea that Father Ambrose reiterated throughout the entire time in Klosterneuburg which clearly was an important point for him to make. And that was about why Christians, and especially Catholics, spend so much money in making such incredibility opulent religious items. According to him it wasn't just for the church to stoke the flames of their own self importance, but rather so that all Christians could revel in the glory of God and see these beautiful devotions to his love. It was a service that the Church was doing for the people. An interesting thought, not that I necessarily believe it.
I asked Father Ambrose, why so much gold? Is there some kind of religious significance to the metal? He said that, well, gold doesn't tarnish over time and that the value that society puts on gold makes it something more worthy to show as a devotion to God. Since it's significant to us, it should be more significant for God too.
Something I found kind of hilarious about Father Ambrose was the way he go past all the barriers put up to protect all these artifacts from tourists and then touch absolutely everything, sometimes even leaning on them. And these are artifacts from the time of Charles VI we're talking; Maria Theresia's father who wanted to move up here to Klosterneuburg.
One of the great and welcome surprises of this tour was the Gothic architecture and art that we got to see. I was really excited to see such well preserved and fantastic examples of medieval creations.
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