Cemetery church of St. Charles Borromeo

Karl Borromeo Church (east view)

The cemetery church of St. Karl Borromäus (also: Karl-Borromäus-Kirche , formerly: Dr.-Karl-Lueger-Gedächtniskirche , popularly: Luegerkirche ) is a Roman Catholic church on Vienna's central cemetery in the 11th district, Simmering . It was built from 1908 to 1911 based on designs by the architect Max Hegele . The church is a listed building.

history

inside view

Characteristic dome from the inside (2017)

In the drafts for the design of the central cemetery submitted by the Frankfurt architects Karl Jonas Mylius and Alfred Friedrich Bluntschli in 1870 , a cemetery church was planned in the center of the area. After the cemetery was opened in 1874, decades passed until in 1899 the Viennese city administration, as the operator of the cemetery, announced a competition to complete the central cemetery , which was won by Max Hegele.

The portal system was erected at the main entrance to the cemetery area ( Gate 2 ) as well as the laying out halls I and II located to the left and right of the entrance zone. From 1905 to 1907 the crypts - the arcades and columbaria - were built on both sides of the church .

The foundation stone for the building of the church was laid on May 11, 1908 by the mayor of Vienna, Karl Lueger , the work lasted until October 1910. After Karl Lueger's death in March 1910, the municipality of Vienna decided to build the church Dr.-Karl-Lueger- To call the Memorial Church. Lueger's remains, which were provisionally buried in the family grave, were moved to the church crypt under the high altar at the end of October 1910. On the mural in the upper part of the chancel, Karl Lueger is shown kneeling in a death shirt. On June 16, 1911 the church was dedicated to St. Dedicated to Charles Borromeo .

During the Second World War , the dome of the church was destroyed by an incendiary bomb; the repair work after the end of the war lasted until the 1950s.

From 1995 to 2000 the church was completely renovated on the initiative of City Councilor Johann Hatzl ; the costs amounted to 183 million schillings. The inner dome, which had only been poorly restored after the Second World War, was faithfully restored. The reopening took place on October 27, 2000 by the Mayor of Vienna Michael Häupl , the re-inauguration four days later by the Viennese Archbishop Cardinal Christoph Schönborn . In the course of the reopening, the new name Friedhofskirche zum St. Karl Borromäus was determined.

layout

The architectural and artistic design of the church can be assigned to Art Nouveau , but it also has elements of Egyptian architecture. Friedrich Achleitner commented: In fact, it was already a use of Art Nouveau decor against the background of a diffuse historicism or an adaptation for a dry monumentalism that was frozen in a lifeless pathos . The typology, however, shows a visual resistance that represents a quality of its own in the large-scale context .

There are design parallels to the Steinhof church designed by Otto Wagner and completed in 1907 , the design of which, however, could in turn be influenced by Hegele's designs from 1899 (Otto Wagner was a member of the jury at the time).

The upper church is about 3 meters above the level of the cemetery and can be reached via three wide flight of stairs. Below is the lower church serving as a crypt. Above the portal there are pairs of angels by Carl Wollek and Theodor Charlemont. The four evangelists on the east and west side come from Josef Heu (St. John), Othmar Schimkowitz (St. Luke), Josef Breitner (St. Matthew) and Artur Kaan (St. Mark). The wall relief “Resurrection of the Daughter of Jairus” in the left-hand transept is by Jakob Gruber .

The reliefs in the vestibule are by Georg Leisek (expulsion of Adam and Eve from paradise) and Hans Rathausky (mourning for Abel). The glass windows and wall mosaics of the church come from Leopold Forstner , who, according to his own designs, depicted the four evangelists in the dome pendentifs and designed the entrance areas to the side chapels. In the vestibule there are reliefs by the sculptors Johann Rathausky and Georg Leisek . The painter Hans Zatzka created the depiction of the Last Judgment above the high altar.

On the clock faces of the tower clocks, instead of numbers, letters are attached to the hour division, which - read clockwise from 1 to 11 - result in the Latin sentence TEMPUS FUGIT (English: Time flies). There is a small cross at the 12 o'clock position.

Picture gallery

altar

Right transept

Left transept

Window designed by Leopold Forstner

Lower church with 44 crypts

View of the entrance

Clock with Tempus Fugit inscription

Mosaic with a trial of suffering

A ceramic by Theodor Khuen

literature

Karl Wagner: total work of art Luegerkirche. Cemetery church of St. Karl Borromeo at the Vienna Central Cemetery . Verlag Friedhofskirche zum St. Karl Borromäus, Vienna 2008, ISBN 978-3-200-01311-7
Karl Wagner: The Dr. Karl Lueger Memorial Church at the Vienna Central Cemetery and its theological statements . Diploma thesis, Vienna 1989
DEHIO Vienna - X. to XIX. and XXI. to XXIII. District . Schroll, Vienna 1996, ISBN 3-7031-0693-X .