This shot looks down the wing of the museum from the Temple front back towards the bronze statue of the athlete and gives you some sense of the size of the hall, and the length of the friezes. These remains were transported from Ephesus to Vienna between 1878 and 1906. Our guide stressed it was done legally and with permission of the government at that time (Sultan Abdul Hamid in this case). Whether it was ethical is another matter. But... Read more

The problem with ginormous museums is it takes several visits to soak it all in. After two or three hours you begin to glaze over and not take in the remarkable things to see. Sometimes you end up dashing around to no good end. In our case, we had to visit the museum several times between sessions at the University of Wien (Vienna) for the SBL International Meeting where I gave a lecture on Jesus the Sage. Wien is the... Read more

There is a difference between a sci-fi movie, and a science future movie. The former does not need to be concerned about the actual constraints of reality or science as we know it, it can just let its imagination run wild. But a science future movie on the other hand is supposed to have a certain degree of plausibility to it, like something that can barely be seen on the horizon, but is nonetheless within reach in the not so... Read more

There is a very nice collection of largely Egyptian (and Sumerian) artifacts in the Kunst Museum, including a recreation of the ceiling and feeling of an Egyptian royal tomb, in the room see above. Hieroglyphics are always interesting and here is a stele about an Egyptian priest of the god Ptah. There is in addition a sarcophagus of a priest as well of black onyx, inscribed almost everywhere. Here we have perhaps the oldest manuscript in all of the museum,... Read more

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Never say there is no profit in going to an art museum. Here in fact are busts of lots of famous Biblical prophets. These busts were made of the seven (OT) prophets by the delle Masegne brothers in Venice in about 1400. There are too many spectacular renderings of various Biblical scenes including especially the passion of Jesus, in too many media, to show them all to you, but here are some of the most impressive… First the archangel Michael... Read more

There is a lot of interesting things in the Kunsthistorische Museum in Vienna, not least its Christian art collection and substantial Greco-Roman and ANE holdings. This post will deal with the former of these. Certainly one of the most famous paintings in the museum of relevance to Biblical studies is the painting by Bruegel of the Tower of Babel. Bruegel had visited Rome in 1552-53 and studied that other major symbol of hubris (from a Christian viewpoint), the Roman colosseum... Read more

An important though relatively small part of the Kunsthistorische Museum in Vienna is the Ephesos wing of the museum. It has two main features…. statuary remains from the Greco-Roman period and friezes from that period, and a reconstructed temple front. In addition it has an excellent recreated layout of the Ephesos site, which frankly should be in the museum in Selcuk— they need one this clear. We will begin with the model with is a 1 to 500 scale model,... Read more

Everything wears out, It all fades away, Even time passes Day by day. Nothing lasts, For very long, Your favorite food, Your favorite song. We grow weary, Tired of routine Let’s be honest, And just come clean. Our fear is evident That it will be true That we are not permanent Like all things new. We visit the graveyards Where our loved ones lie We wonder what it’s like To suddenly die. Is death another change Another temporary thing That... Read more

There is a little village in the shadow of the mountains by the Wolfgangsee (lake really), which is the birth place of Mozart’s mom. It’s name is St. Gilgen, which is the equivalent of St. Giles, a rather odd name for an Austrian town. Mozart actually never visited the city, though the tourist rhetoric associates him with the town, to get tourists to come. It is worth a visit all by itself anyway, as it is beautiful, rather like a... Read more