{"id":511,"date":"2019-03-19T12:40:00","date_gmt":"2019-03-19T11:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bergl2019.eu\/?page_id=511"},"modified":"2019-04-25T10:01:38","modified_gmt":"2019-04-25T08:01:38","slug":"augustinian-reading-room","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.bergl2019.eu\/en\/places\/augustinian-reading-room\/","title":{"rendered":"Vienna, Austrian National Library, Augustinian Reading Room"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Originally built as a monastery library for the Discalced Augustinians <\/strong>and,  in 1829, rented by the former Court Library, the Augustinian Reading  Room today offers you, as a reading room for the Department of  Manuscripts and Rare Books, <strong>all the comforts of a modern library reading room <\/strong>(Wi-Fi, etc.) in a magnificent setting. In this room you may study <strong>historical and bibliophilerare books and manuscripts<\/strong> held by the Austrian National Library.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The ceiling fresco, designed in 1773 by Johann Baptist Wenzel Bergl<\/strong> (1718\u20131789), a pupil of Paul Troger, is particularly remarkable. The  fresco follows a theme similar to the one in the adjacent State Hall,  the former Court Library. It is not, as one might expect in a monastery  library, dedicated to just one theological subject, but instead conveys  the <strong>idea of universal erudition, combined with an imperial apotheosis<\/strong>. The three pictorial fields are to be read from the narrow side with the two windows towards the elevated section of the hall.<br><br><strong>The three pictorial fields:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>The entirety of material, indeed earthly processes led by a great state<\/li><li>The entirety of earthly teachings and arts in the form of the four faculties, the most sublime of which is theology<\/li><li>Mount Parnassus as the entirety of celestial and absolute understanding<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Each group is designed in the same way with a <strong>central figure as well as four to five flanking figures, respectively<\/strong>. Several <strong>character portraits<\/strong>  stand out among the many shapes that turn away from the onlooker or  have blurred, neutral facial features. Moreover, several old men can be  seen wearing turbans, no doubt a reference to the fact that all areas of  science stem partly from Arab sources in pre-ancient times. The  onlooker\u2019s <strong>attention <\/strong>between the scenes is drawn, above all, to the <strong>cloud formations<\/strong>.<br><br><strong>Two cartouches with sayings along the narrow side<\/strong> serve to bracket the depictions of the ceiling fresco, as do the portrait medallions. <em>Codices certa hora [singulis diebus]petantur <\/em>from  the Rule of St. Augustine (5.39) \u2013 Books may be obtained [daily] at  certain times (requests are not accepted outside of these hours).<br><br><strong>This practicality of daily life is contrasted by a spiritual level: <\/strong><em>Scrutamini Scripturas [quia vos putatis in ipsis vitam aeternam habere]<\/em> from the Gospel of John tells the reader to find the right path to eternal life in the (Holy) Scripture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>\u00a9 This text is originally from the website of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onb.ac.at\/en\/library\/departments\/department-of-manuscripts-and-rare-books\/about-the-collection\/augustinian-reading-room\">\u00d6sterreichischen Nationalbibliothek<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Originally built as a monastery library for the Discalced Augustinians and, in 1829, rented by the former Court Library, the Augustinian Reading Room today offers you, as a reading room for the Department of Manuscripts and Rare Books, all the comforts of a modern library reading room (Wi-Fi, etc.) in a magnificent setting. In this &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bergl2019.eu\/en\/places\/augustinian-reading-room\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Vienna, Austrian National Library, Augustinian Reading Room&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":490,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bergl2019.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/511"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bergl2019.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bergl2019.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bergl2019.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bergl2019.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=511"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.bergl2019.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":950,"href":"https:\/\/www.bergl2019.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/511\/revisions\/950"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bergl2019.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bergl2019.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}