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National ‘Consensus’ As Culture and Practice: The Geological Survey in Vienna and the Habsburg Empire (1849–1867)

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The Nationalization of Scientific Knowledge in the Habsburg Empire, 1848–1918

Abstract

The Jewish cosmopolitan Franz Werfel understood the Habsburg Empire as a supra-national state, a kind of harmonious, bourgeois ‘Great Switzerland’, a picturesque and well organized mosaic presenting a variety of natural spaces, which connected to each other ‘the Tyrolian Alps, the lakes of the Salzkammergut, the gentle horizons of Bohemia, the wild highlands of the karst, the sumptuous landscapes on the Adriatic Sea, the palaces of Vienna, the churches of Salzburg, the towers of Prague ... the wide steppes of the Puszta ... the mountain pastures of the Carpathian Mountains and the plains along the Danube with all the wonders of its valley, with its wild meadows full of birds, and the large islands of its tributary, the Theiß.’ 1 The geological survey of the country, which was successfully completed for all territories of the Habsburg Empire in a very short period, between 1849 and 1867, also guarantees a view which connects all natural spaces.

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Notes

  1. Franz Werfel (1937) Twilight of a World (New York: The Viking Press);

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  2. See also Claudio Magris (1966) Der habsburgische Mythos in der österreichischen Literatur (Salzburg: Otto Müller Verlag).

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  6. As well as recently William M. Johnston (2010) Der österreichische Mensch. Kulturgeschichte der Eigenart Österreichs (Vienna, Cologne, Graz: Böhlau Verlag).

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  7. One exception is Tatjana Buklijas’s study on medicine and particularly the example of surgeon Theodor Billroth. See Tatjana Buklijas (2007) ‘Surgery and national identity in late nineteenth-century Vienna’, Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences , 38, 756–74.

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  14. A number of visual and lyrical works of the period employ this motto. The basic idea is already to be found in Franz Grillparzer’s well known poem in homage to Radetzky. ‘ Treue und Eintracht der österreichischen Völker, Viribus Unitis ’ is the title of a lithograph by Franz Kollarz from 1849 (after a drawing by Josef A. Hellich). This is an allegorical depiction of the eighteen peoples living within the Monarchy. Men in national costumes are assembled around Emperor Franz Joseph; above them, in the ornamental band, the seven ministries are symbol-ized, and below, the coats of arms of all crownlands. See Siegfried Nasko (ed.) (1979) Österreich unter Kaiser Franz Joseph I., Historische Sondersaustellung im Schloß Pottenbrunn (St. Pölten: Verlag des Magistrats der Stadt St. Pölten), esp. 102.

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  26. On Wilhelm Haidinger see note 18.

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  40. In his report to the Emperor, Thinnfeld emphasizes that ‘any kind of industrial production is a treasure trove meeting the countless needs of higher civilization’. See (1850) Jahrbuch der kaiserlich-königlichen Geologischen Reichsanstalt , 1, 1.

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  44. This analysis is based on insights from many letters and reports from geologists, which for reasons of space cannot be developed here.

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  63. Cf. Albrecht Penck and Eduard Brückner (1909) Die Alpen im Eiszeitalter, 3 vols (Leipzig: Hirzler).

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  69. The survey map underwent five revisions before the turn of the century.

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Authors
  1. Marianne Klemun
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Vienna, Austria

    Mitchell G. Ash (Professor of Modern History) (Professor of Modern History)

  2. Department of History, University of Vienna, Austria

    Jan Surman

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© 2012 Mitchell G. Ash and Jan Surman

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Klemun, M. (2012). National ‘Consensus’ As Culture and Practice: The Geological Survey in Vienna and the Habsburg Empire (1849–1867). In: Ash, M.G., Surman, J. (eds) The Nationalization of Scientific Knowledge in the Habsburg Empire, 1848–1918. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137264978_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137264978_4

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-349-33112-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-26497-8

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