re: Amazing Photos from History

In the heart of downtown Vienna, Austria lies the Hofburg Palace. Construction was started in the late 1200's. It has housed the royalty and leaders of Austria off and on since the first wing was completed.

It has had multiple expansions through the centuries and is huge.

Many of us have seen it on video. It was the site of Hitler's big balcony speech in 1938. The tape of this speech has been replayed countless times since it occurred. Hitler looks over a sea of people and they all scream in ecstasy that he is there speaking to them.

In the video you can also see two horse statues. They commissioned a great artist to sculpt these statues. One of the things the artist wanted was for the horses to balance, with rider, on their two back hooves.

He made the statues and installed them but was unable to ever get them to balance as he wanted. He finally gave up and extended the horse's tail to act as a third balance point.

He was so disappointed that he killed himself after completion.

I was there in the late 90's and was told the story by one of the locals I was working with. The story may, or may not be true but he told it earnestly and believed it.

I was never allowed to go on the balcony that Hitler spoke from but did get to walk around the grounds by the statues where all of the masses gathered. I also spent extensive time in one of the wings.

It had a creepy, surreal vibe left from all of the people cheering for one of the most evil humans ever.

The video has one of the giant horse statues at 7:12-7:16-ish.

LINK

quote:

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Adolfo Hitler talking to Mussolini

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What language were they conversing in?