Vienna

Vienna presents a comprehensive, richly illustrated insight into the art treasures of the Danube metropolis. The main focus is on the baroque era with its magnificent church buildings and palaces including the Hofburg, Schonbrunn and Belvedere; historicism with its architectural highlights on the new Ringstrasse; and Viennese art nouveau including artists Gustav Klimt and Oskar Kokoschka, the Wiener Werkstatte und Sezession. Well-founded essays on the beginnings of the history of art in Vienna and on the state of contemporary Viennese art round off the book.

Cologne-based photographer Achim Bednorz has specialized in photographing sacred places. The principle behind his method of interpretation is simple: to get as close to reality as possible. This means presenting the object in well balanced directed light, making the object recognizable as if in ideal circumstances, and foregoing any special effects.