In addition to classic walks, city tours and museum tours, I also like to slip into the role of famous Viennese personalities on very special occasions.

These tours cannot be booked regularly!

300th anniversary of
Maria Theresia, 2017

On the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the most famous »Empress« from the Habsburg family, I slipped into the role of the »Mother of the Nation« for a special, exclusive 90-minutes Segway tour on May 13, 2017.

Make-up and hairstyling were done quite unpretentiously by »us« without the help of maids, »Her Majesty« only needed help with getting dressed in the Segway shop.

While »our« servants trained the guests on the devices, »we« could briefly enjoy the sun and then drive ahead of the foot soldiers to our Schönbrunn summer palace with the Silver Arrow (the Vienna subway) – because an empress doesn’t ride a Segway!

At Schönbrunn »we« received our subjects, posed as always for the onlookers and chatted with the illustrious guests about this and that and much more – such as about »our« petticoats.

Further contributors: 
Andrea Pintsuk and Quendrim Balaj, Segway Parkring
Wolfgang Horak, tour guide
Costume: Lambert Hofer Kostümverleih
With the kind support of WK Wien, Fachgruppe Freizeit- und Sportbetriebe
Courtesy of Schloß Schönbrunn Kultur- und Betriebs GmbH
Photos: Wehr & Wehr Grafikdesign

Speaking Statues

From 2017 to 2019 Vienna’s »Speaking Statues« invited onlookers, tourists and Viennese to a dialogue. The »specialist group of leisure and sports companies« of the Vienna Chamber of Commerce organized these free two-hour monument tours in cooperation with spaceandplace and austriaguides. Every year a different Grätzl was played at.

Monuments and statues shape the Viennese cityscape and are popular (selfie) hotspots for many tourists. In addition, the Viennese have also grown fond of »their« stone witnesses. »We want to see our city from a new, unfamiliar perspective and find out what we can learn from it,« says Eugene Quinn from spaceandplace, who developed the program. For this, some statues were »brought to life« by austriaguides and chatted with the guests – very often giving away secrets.

2017: Imperial Palace and surrounding area

There are countless monuments around the Hofburg. You can’t make up your mind with this abundance!

Try again! Because there aren’t many female statues on this area. Just two, to be precise: Empress Elisabeth of Austria (Sisi) and »Empress« Maria Theresa.

After I never really »became comfortable« with Sisi all these years, it was clear to me which role I would slip into: into that of the Archduchess of Austria, Queen of Bohemia and Hungary, Dalmatia, Croatia, Slavonia, Gallicia, Lodomeria, Duchess of Burgundy, Steyer, Carinthia and Crain, Grand Duchess of Transylvania etc. etc., better known as Maria Theresa of Habsburg-Lorraine, Holy Roman Empress by marriage.

Further contributors:
Alfred Kremsbrugger as Abraham a Santa Clara
Michael Weihs as Emperor Franz Joseph I. of Austria-Hungary
Elisabeth Wolf as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Catherine Bitai as Emperor Franz I. Stephan
Matthias Hink as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Jascha Novak as Franz Grillparzer
Susanna Oberforcher as Empress Elisabeth of Austria
Wolfgang Horak as Archduke Karl of Austria-Teschen
Concept: Eugene Quinn/spaceandplace
Funding: WK Wien, Fachgruppe Freizeit- und Sportbetriebe
Costumes: Lambert Hofer Kostümverleih
Photos: Wehr & Wehr Grafikdesign

2018: City Park and surrounding area

It may be surprising – but there is only one single statue of a woman in the City Park, namely the one of the Danube Mermaid – and she is depicted almost naked, shows a lot of skin and wears hardly any fabric.

No, I didn’t depict this figure after all. But since there are only three (!!) fully sculptural monuments for women in all of Vienna, of which two were already portrayed in the previous years, and the third one is located far away from the city centre in the Türkenschanzpark (Auguste Fickert), we literally had to pull a lady out of the hat for me. Therefore I was supposed to appear without a monument. As whoever. Literally out of nowhere.

However, we did not have to think very hard to find a person I could portray, as the famous Austrian landscape painter Emil Jakob Schindler, to whom a monument is dedicated in the City Park, had an even more famous daughter: Alma Schindler, better known as Alma Mahler-Werfel.

Et voilà – my character to represent was determined. Alma was able to appear together with her beloved Papa! And one thing was immediately clear: I needed a very large hat!

Further contributors:
Robert Sedlacek as Ludwig van Beethoven
Susanna Oberforcher as »Autumn«
Achim Ferrandina as Emil Jakob Schindler
Elisabeth Wolf as Johann Strauss Son
Catherine Bitai as Hans Makart
Matthias Hink as Franz Schubert
Jascha Novak as Dr. Karl Lueger
Wolfgang Horak as Field marshall Josef Wenzel Radetzky of Radetz
Concept: Eugene Quinn/spaceandplace
Funding: WK Wien, Fachgruppe Freizeit- und Sportbetriebe
Costumes: Lambert Hofer Kostümverleih
Photos: Raphael Sperl/tricky.pics

More photos here.

2019: Karlsplatz and surrounding area

And again I was faced with the same problem as in the years before: There is no woman’s monument anywhere to find at Karlsplatz or closeby!

But once again, it didn’t take us long to make multiple connections to the chosen location with a famous Viennese woman: Hedy Lamarr!

She got married to her first husband at St. Charles Church on Karlsplatz and, together with the musician George Antheil, developed the frequency hopping method which is the basis of today’s Bluetooth technology. So she was also very tech-savvy. If she had wanted to, she would have studied Physics at the Technical University of Vienna located on Karlsplatz.

However, she decided on a diametrical career: Hollywood star, popular cover girl, trendsetter, fashion icon and most beautiful woman in the world. She was courted by Hollywood, idolized by the public and coveted by men – until at some point she considered herself as a goddess.

Further contributors:
Alfred Kremsbrugger as Alexander Girardi
Margit Kaya as Helene Odilon
Franz Schnedl as Siegfried Marcus
Maria Roniger as Clara Schumann
Matthias Hink as Johannes Brahms
Susanna Oberforcher as »Angel«
Jascha Novak as Sowjet Soldier
Conzept: Eugene Quinn/spaceandplace
Funding: WK Wien, Fachgruppe Freizeit- und Sportbetriebe
Costume: Lambert Hofer Kostümverleih
Photos: Wehr & Wehr Grafikdesign

History walks, 2020

In 2020 everything was different. In the end the original speaking statue concept could not be implemented because of the outbreak of the pandemic. The chosen area was no longer available in the planned way, and this time the characters had to take individual walks with a limited number of participants – and unfortunately were not able to appear all together on the same tour. That is why the project was renamed »History walks«.

And it had to be implemented very quickly. Because you could never know how the pandemic situation and the measures would develop within the few weeks of lead time.

So I fell back on an »old friend« and again portrayed Alma Mahler-Werfel. For an hour and a half I was able to show interested people Alma’s Vienna on a walk.

And I was also able to do another walk together with a companion: a great Viennese personality who, unfortunately, is only known to a few: Carolina Catharina Obertimpfler, later first wife of the architect Adolf Loos. She became known under the name Lina Loos.

This walk together with my contemporary and friend Lina was my personal highlight of my »costume tours career« so far.

Further contributors:
Martina Autengruber as Constanze von Breuning
Susanna Oberforcher as Auguste Fickert
Marcelo Abraham as Ritter Adolf von Guttenberg
Peter Heuritsch as Plague Doctor
Elke Papp as Lina Loos
Matthias Hink as Franz Schubert
Jascha Novak as Egon Schiele
Martha Schmiedl, moderation
Funding: WK Wien, Fachgruppe Freizeit- und Sportbetriebe
Costume: Lambert Hofer Kostümverleih
Photos: Wehr & Wehr Grafikdesign, Wolfgang Pecka, Martha Schmiedl

Further photos here.