Prague, Budapest and Vienna are three of the most magnificent cities that any traveler can visit. Situated right in the heart of mitteleuropa (central Europe), these Imperial cities of the Hapsburgs have often shared a common history. Although the capitals of three distinct peoples, each with their own language and customs, their histories have been intertwined for over two millennia.

What immediately strikes any American visitor is how old the buildings are. Most of the architecture pre-dates America's birth as a nation. Yet these buildings are all still in daily use. Churches that go back the best part of 1,000 years, palaces of the nobility built during the golden age of the Hapsburgs in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, cobbled streets that were already there the last time the world welcomed in a new millenium, even an elaborately made church clock in Prague's market place that's about 700 years old (and still works, in contrast to the watch I bought in Hong Kong three years ago).

These Cities are living and breathing history.

It is difficult for those who have not had the opportunity to travel to other continents to sometimes appreciate and understand the differences in outlook that geography and environment can lead to. In explaining Europe to Americans, and America to Europeans, I have sometimes used the analogy of a citadel and a caravan. Europe is the citadel and America the caravan.

A citadel is a solid, permanent building, a fortress designed to survive any crisis and protect those within it from all the dangers outside. It is a permanent dwelling. A caravan is constantly moving, seeking new horizons, leaving the past behind.

Citadels are Built to Last

Most buildings in America are built to last 50 years. After that, they depreciate as the buildings need more and more maintenance and start crumbling. It's hard for Americans to understand that while older buildings in the U.S. generally are cheaper, older buildings in Europe are usually more expensive. The older the building, usually the better built (more solid), and the more likely to withstand the elements.

One reason for this difference is space. In Europe, lack of space. When Americans have made a mess of a big city, they can move out and build a new city in the suburbs. Europeans, due to lack of space, do not have that luxury. They have to rebuild the big cities. And when they rebuild they tend to build with long-term needs in mind. Buildings are built to last.

It can also be said that the great royal dynasties of Europe were built to last. When Peter the Great founded his new royal Russian capital of St. Petersburg on the banks of the River Neva, he wanted a magnificent capital that would last for centuries, just as his dynasty would.

Similarly, the royal house of Hapsburg that ruled for centuries over Vienna, Budapest and Prague, built buildings to last. The Hapsburg dynasty lasted more than twice as long as the Russian Romanov family-over six centuries to the Romanov's three.

Readers may remember the television series "Civilization" presented by the British architectural historian Lord Kenneth Clark, shown on the BBC and PBS over 25 years ago. Lord Clark showed that the great architecture, literature and music of western civilization was all produced in the absolute monarchies of Europe (a put-down, incidentally, to both Britain and the U.S.). The emperors, kings and princes of the various territories sponsored their proteges, their Bachs and their Michelangelos. Their heritage lives on to this day.

What twentieth century heritage will be passed on to future generations?

Chaos versus Continuity

This has been the century of political chaos in Europe, of two world wars that ended the continent's 500 years of world dominance. When the great European empires collapsed in the aftermath of World War I, fledgling republics replaced them that were soon overwhelmed by internal contradictions leading to dictatorship. The lowly born dictators of the various European countries turned out to be far worse than any of the monarchs that preceded them.

Europeans learned the lesson of Ecclesiastes 10:16-17, that rule by nobles is preferable to rule by the worst elements of society.

Only in this decade are many of these nations finally coming out of the dark age of despotism and tyranny that succeeded the Romanovs, the Hapsburgs, the Hohenzollerns (Germany) and the other smaller dynasties that fell at various times throughout the century.

The Hapsburg dynasty that ruled over central Europe from Vienna was particularly progressive. One of the most famous modern Hapsburg monarchs was the Empress Maria Theresa, a great reforming monarch that ruled the empire in the middle of the eighteenth century up until the time that the United States became a nation.

Perhaps the greatest achievement of the Hapsburgs was to rule peacefully and progressively over many nations in central Europe, uniting them when they might otherwise have been constantly fighting each other. This unity also enabled most of Europe to avoid rule by the Islamic Ottoman Turks who conquered most of south eastern Europe, but were held back at the gates of Vienna in 1688 by fighting men from all the nations that then comprised the Austrian Empire. The Polish pope, John Paul II, joined in the tercentenary celebrations marking this victory ten years ago, remembering the sacrifices of his Polish ancestors in the battle.

Religion-Catholic and Protestant, Moslem and Jewish-has played a major role in central Europe's history, a subject I will examine in a future issue of WNP.

E.U. Built Like a Citadel

Austria's name in German is Osterreich, the eastern empire. Whereas the other reich, the German Reich, historically looked west, this Germanic Reich looked east. The weaker nations of the east became a part of the Austrian Empire, the lands of the Hapsburgs, subdued, yes, but also benefiting from the peace that unity brought. The peoples of these other nations looked west, to Vienna, for hundreds of years. The Pope's home city of Krakow did not look to Warsaw, Poland's present capital, but to Vienna, the capital of the Empire of which it was a part. The same was true of Prague, Budapest, Sarajevo and Bratislava.

Is it any wonder then that the newly freed nations of eastern Europe are now looking west, to Vienna and through Vienna to the nations of the European Union, of which Austria is a member? Anxious to distance themselves from their former Soviet masters, these nations seek rapid membership in the E.U.

But the E.U. is being built in typical European fashion. Like a citadel. And it takes time to build a citadel. One of the most magnificent buildings in Prague took almost 600 years to complete. The vision of those who laid the foundation stone of this great cathedral was not realized in their lifetime, but they still built it because they were convicted it needed to be built.

The E.U. began in a small way shortly after World War II, with just three small nations, Belgium, Luxembourg and Holland. By 1957 it had become the European Economic Community with six members (West Germany, France and Italy were added). Sixteen years later, it was enlarged to include the United Kingdom, Ireland and Denmark. Now there are fifteen member countries and a waiting list of almost as many.

Steady Progress in the E.U.

But expansion does not take place until previous gains have been solidified, just as a building must have a solid foundation before a higher floor is added. A badly built building in the United States may fall down with only minor consequences, but when there is no space to maneuver-as in Europe-the result could be disastrous. There have been many badly built "buildings" erected this century-Germany's Second and Third Reich, the communist Soviet Union, Franco's Spain, Vichy France and the Fourth Republic; along with artificial nations like Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia that could not hold their minorities together under one flag.

The E.U. progresses slowly, ensuring that each level and every step of the Citadel is built to last. The most demanding construction work lies still ahead-the gradual introduction of the euro beginning January 1st, followed by further steps to full political and military union.

Revelation 17:12-13 suggests a future action that would lead to a supranational leader who will preside over the new united Europe. "And the ten horns which you saw are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind and shall give their power and strength unto the beast." This scenario is similar to the cautious manner in which other steps have been taken on the road to European unity.

"Unless the Lord shall build the house, the weary builders toil in vain," says a pertinent scripture. Prophecy shows that this attempt at full European unification will not last, that the kingdom with the most solid foundation of all will replace it-the Citadel built to last for eternity, the kingdom of God. WNP