On February 28, 2019 the Austrian postal service issued a postage stamp in the honor of the 150th anniversary of the Vienna Opera House.

The Vienna Opera House is the largest opera theatre in Austria and one of musical culture centers in Europe.

The Vienna Opera House is one of the most beautiful opera theatres in the world and one of the main places worth seeing in Vienna. The construction of a special building for the Vienna Opera House according to a project of the architects August Sicard von Sicardsburg and Eduard van der Nüll began in 1861. The ceremonial opening of the building took place on May 25, 1869 in the presence of the imperial couple – Emperor Franz Josef and Empress Elisabeth. Also on that date there was played Mozart’s opera called ‘Don Giovanni’. Until 1918, the theatre was under patronage of Habsburg Monarchy and was called the Vienna Court Opera.

Obviously, the Austrian postal service could not ignore such a significant event. Designer Karin Klier successfully combined the past and the present of the glorified theatre in the postal miniature. With a cursory look at the postage stamp, though almost imperceptibly, the left part of the postage stamp includes a fragment of an antique drawing depicting the building made in muted colours. This stamp represents numerous walking passers-by, moving horsemen and horse-drawn carriages at the square in front of the building. The right side of the stamp represents the modern look of the theatre – a colour image of the theatre of our days smoothly appears from the historical drawing.

There are other horses on the ‘historical’ side of the stamp in addition to a couple of horsemen and the carriage in front of the theatre. On the ledge of the building, two equestrian sculptures are clearly visible on the left and the right edges. As the image depicted on the stamp is tiny, I took into account the modern photographs of the opera theatre in Vienna. They show us a pair of winged horses with the goddess Harmonia and the Muse of love poetry Erato, sitting on them. These are the works of the talented German sculptor Ernst Julius Hähnel.

However, some discrepancy was bothering me. On the closer examination, it becomes obvious that the silhouette of the statues depicted on the historical drawing does not correspond to the figures of the Pegasi shown in the photos. Paying closer attention to Ernst Julius Hähnel’s sculptures, we see that the Muses are on horseback, but at the same time the stamp shows us human figures staying beside of the winged horses. My colleagues from the Austrian philatelic forum helped me to solve this riddle.

It turns out the original building of the Opera House was decorated with entirely different Pegasi which were designed by the sculptor Vincenz Pilz. However, his works were too monumental and did not look organically enough on the elegant facade of the Vienna Opera breaking the proportions of its size. The sculptures were vigorously criticized by the public and in April 1870 the Pegasi were dismantled from their pedestals. And lighter and more elegant Hähnel’s versions were installed there instead. 

In 1945 the theatre building was severely destroyed as a result of the American bombing. But immediately after the war, it was decided to restore the historical look of the building according to the old drawings and photographs. Restoration work was continued until 1955, and finally the theatre became open to the public on November 5, 1955.

The Pegasi history got an unexpected continuation. At first they had been almost sent for scrapping, but it was Robert Gratz, the American businessman from Philadelphia who bought and saved the statues. The Pegasi and the Muses made a transatlantic journey and were transferred to the businessman’s hometown. In 1876 the Pegasi graced the entrance to the Memorial Hall – one of the exhibition buildings which was build in preparation of the World Exposition in Philadelphia, dedicated to the Centenary of the USA. The Pegasi to this very day are placed on their pedestals in front of the Memorial Hall. Having undergone restoration in 2018, they now delight the eye with their pristine beauty.