Francine Stock travels to Vienna to examine the rich cultural and artistic life of the city in the final days of the Hapsburg Empire.

In November 1918 the vast Austro-Hungarian Empire was lost overnight. The removal of the dual monarchy from the European map left the imperial capital of Vienna and its staggeringly well equipped civil service with no empire to run. Vienna had fallen from grace and with it, decades of rich artistic life were lost.

And yet right up until the Empire's last days, Vienna had continued to be a cultural hub at the heart of European modernism. Despite food shortages and the hardships of war, the Viennese continued to frequent cinemas, salons and cafes. Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele and Oskar Kokoschka continued to paint and exhibit their work internationally, Franz Schreker composed one of his most popular operas, while writers Karl Kraus and Stefan Zweig documented everyday life.

Producer: Sarah Shebbeare
Production Coordinator: Anne Smith Show less