Friday, February 26, 2010
Austria and the Habsburg Crypt
Der Spiegel reports on the struggle to maintain the Capuchin crypt beneath Vienna where the Habsburg emperors are buried. Austria's republican government is worried enough about the Habsburgs to specifically exclude them from EU human rights laws, but apparently not concerned enough about national heritage to adequately fund the preservation of the tomb. As the article points out, Austrian republicans are happy to profit from the tourism generated by their country's glorious and fascinating Imperial past with which no republic could possibly compare, while maintaining a curious mixture of indifference and hostility towards the Habsburgs--living and dead--themselves. May the Austrian people someday reject this dreary artificial republic and restore the Habsburgs to their rightful throne!
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2 comments:
This is disgraceful! Even if I were a republican from Austria, I'd be strongly against this. Even if I disagreed with the principals of hereditary monarchy, this is still an important part of the nation's heritage. Austria, as we know it today, is defined by the Hapsburg empire.
At least they haven't ransaked their resting place, yet.
Perhaps the Capuccins can take a collection?
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