"Oldness" in central Europe
 

My cousin and I will be in Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Krakow, and Warsaw this August. I know there are many relatively 'old' places, and that cities such as Warsaw were badly damaged during the war, but if anybody knows of any particularly old buildings, churches, rooms, libraries, ect....please fill me in. Please provide an age when you mention a place. Thank you!

I think you need a guidebook to Eastern Europe or at least go up to the top of the page and read about your destinations. All of the "old city" of Prague is, well, old, and I suspect except for Warsaw, the same is true for the other cities you've mentioned.

In Vienna, Maria am Gestade (or translated, Maria on the Strand or Riverbank) is one of the oldest buildings in the city. Not really on the tourist loop, but worth seeing as many of the buildings along the Ringstrasse in Vienna were built during the 19th century.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_am_Gestade

Parts of St. Stephen's Cathedral in the center of the "old town" are from the 12th century. Altho damaged minimally during WW2, it is a magnificent building.

Parts of the Hofburg complex date to the 13th century.

http://biega.com/viennatour.html

http://www.worldandi.com/public/2001/August/vienna.html

Do you want truly old buildings, or would you be interested in buildings that have been restored after having been destroyed in WWII? Almost all the damaged cities I have visted look pretty much like they did before the war.

I haven't been to Warsaw, but Prague, Vienna, Budapest and Krakow all look wonderful. The buildings either survived or were restored so that you can't tell the difference.

In Prague you probably want to see Mala Strana. It is the "old town" or lesser town.

Unlike Warsaw, Prague was not damaged during WWII b/c it surrendured. So many things in Prague will be "old"; Charles Bridge, Hradcany castle, Strahov monastery, the Municipal Building, Tyne church, Old Town Square, etc.

Get a Micheline Green guide!

Central Warsaw was not damaged in WWII it was flattened. I've seen the photos and all that was left was one staircase one floor up in the central sq mile. All you see now is fake (nice fake, but modern)

First off you need to define "old". The cities you mention have histories that go back 1000 years but you won't see anything that old because it no longer exists - except the history. And that's what Europe is so good at, they care about history. So when a church built in the 13th C, for example, is destroyed - by fire, earthquake, war - they pay attention to how it was originally when they rebuild. However, they also use the building techniques and materials of the time when it was rebuilt. Thus you get a church with 13th C foundations, rebuilt with a 15 C main section, 17th facade, and 19th century spire added. Buildings all over Europe that were damaged or destroyed in WWII were rebuilt to look like they did before and are remarkably successful. But a lot of Europe was built in the 18th and 19th C and have a look of that time about the buildings, bridges, etc. But if by "old" you mean "medieval" there is less of that in the cities you mention, than in some other parts of Europe.

In Prague the Mala Strana area is the oldest, but the area around the main town square is pretty darn old. That whole section of the city looks like movieland's view of old Europe. In Vienna the area just north of St Stephan's is the "oldest" looking. In Budapest the castle district. But any good guidebook will list all the buildings of significant historical value and give dates.

Agree with the advice to spend some time with the guide books! However, I did find the rebuilding in Warsaw decidedly unpersuasive - all the buildings in the "old" town looked the same age - not what you expect in a "real" old town.

When you talk about a building's age remember that many medieval churches were built as additions or over the foundation of previous churches. It's not uncommon to find a church where construction began in 1200 to be built on top of a church that was constructed in 600 with pieces of the foundation or some doors remaining. The same goes for many fortifications, medieval European castles are often built on top of Roman fortresses.

It is also not uncommon to see buildings that it took YEARS to complete, also.

Krakow was named the capital of a large district known as the General Government by the Nazis during World War II. It was undamaged in 1939 during the start of the war, remained undamaged clear through to the end, although it was wired and charged for demolition by the retreating Germans. Fortunately, those dynamite charges were not ignited, and the city was saved. As years have gone by, many of the central city's old buildings have been cleaned and completely renovated and restored, including its main medieval building, Wawel Castle.

Agree that you need to do some reading.

Prague is almost unique in being completely undamaged during the war - since Chamberlain gave Czechoslovakia to Hitler to shut him up - which worked for a couple of weeks. The other cities you're tlking about were very heavily damaged.

Although in some many old buildings were recreated - in Prague they're all real.

Here's a typical example of an 'old' building. parts date back over a 1,000 years, and it has been added on to and changed.

http://www.prague.net/st-george-basilica

There are many, many places like that throughout Europe.

Anyway, most towns have been destroyed through bombings from uncle sam.

While some of what logos999 says is true (the British RAF did some bombing too), the Germans also were responsible for much of the damage during WW2 as they were fond of blowing up buildings as they retreated.

One such building saved from destruction was St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna:

From Wikipedia: St. Stephen's Cathedral was saved from intentional destruction at the hands of retreating German forces when Captain Gerhard Klinkicht disregarded orders from the city commandant, Sepp Dietrich, to "fire a hundred shells and leave it in just debris and ashes."

Also, much of the destruction in Warsaw was caused by the German forces in retaliation for the Warsaw Uprising.

So..., betty, you can't change the facts. I'm not saying there was an alternative. (Was it?) But it was the US Army that destroyed most!! of the buildings, not any other army. Would be quite a step forward, should the simple facts be aknowledged.

Well, logos, according to my limited research, 85% of Wurzburg was destroyed by the RAF, not the US military.

Not trying to change the facts, just presenting them more accurately.

Betty, you're trying justify a thing that's "long" ago and doesn't need to be justified. (Given the alternativs) Except that you change the facts, which is quite embarrassing. Whatever the reasons are!!

Sorry, logos, but what "FACTS" have I changed?

It's hard to believe that people have such little knowledge of history.

It's the allied forces (US bombs) that bombed everything into pieces.

There are reasons for that but there's no reason to deny this.

Whatever...