Laimgrube

Laimgrube
coat of arms	map

The Laimgrube was one of the oldest suburbs of Vienna and was incorporated with other suburbs in 1850. Today, the area close to the city center is largely part of the Mariahilf district , a small part is in new buildings .

geography

The Laimgrube, hardly recognizable as a separate district, is located in the east of the Mariahilf district and stretches from the Getreidemarkt on the former Glacis , the border to the 1st district , along the Wien River westwards to about Eggerthgasse, where the suburb Magdalenengrund adjoined. The Wien River was vaulted here around 1900 and the Naschmarkt was built on the vault .

From the Wiental , the terrain rises considerably to the north. Here the Gumpendorfer Strasse, running roughly in a west-east direction parallel to the Wien River, was partly the border to the suburbs of Mariahilf and Windmühle ; In the easternmost part, the suburb of Laimgrube extended northwards beyond today's Mariahilfer Straße and to the north of this in the 7th district it encompassed the area of today's collegiate barracks and the houses east of this to the area of today's museum quarter , the former imperial stables. In the northern part, the Laimgrube bordered the suburbs of Mariahilf (in the west) and Spittelberg (in the north).

The Laimgrube is today a census district of the official statistics, the borderline of which is not identical with that of the former suburb.

Origin of name

The name Laimgrube is derived from the clay pits that have existed here on the slopes of the Wiental since the 14th century. In Bavarian these pits were called Lamgrueben ( Lam pronounced with a long a).

history

The Laimgrube and the Church of St. Josef in 1724

The suburb of Laimgrube on the Vasquez map of the Mariahilf police district, around 1830 (north is below)

The village of Laimgrube already existed in the 11th century and was first mentioned in a document in 1291. It is one of the oldest suburbs in Vienna. The center of the settlement, the so-called Obere Laimgrube , was in what is now the intersection of Windmühlgasse and Mariahilfer Straße . The lower Laimgrube formed the slope to the Wien river, the names Im Saugraben and An der Wien were also common for this area.

In the area of the river bank, clay was mined for brick production, there were also some mills here, which are still reminiscent of street names along this section of the Vienna River ( Hofmühlgasse , Schleifmühlgasse ). Orchards and vineyards stretched between the Upper and Lower Laimgrube, and wine from this area was very popular at the time. Viticulture was therefore one of the main sources of income for the population in addition to brick production.

In the middle of the 14th century, Duke Albrecht II and his wife had a chapel built in honor of Saint Theobald (who is between the altar and the church, on the coat of arms of the Laimgrube) and Saint Catherine. They also founded a hospital, which was converted into a Clarissa convent in 1354. Both the chapel and the monastery were built in 1451 by the later Emperor Friedrich III. the Franciscans passed. Around 1500 there were several brothels in what would later become Kothgasse , which is now the part of Gumpendorfer Straße closest to the center. At this time, a fortification was built, but it did not withstand the first Turkish siege in 1529. The monastery, chapel and most of the buildings in what would later become the suburb were destroyed, and the suburb was only slowly rebuilt more than 20 years later.

A windmill and several rental houses were built on the site of the destroyed monastery in the 1560s, from which the small town of Windmühle developed. In the 17th century a new chapel and later also a monastery were built, but both structures were destroyed again during the second Turkish siege in 1683. In the 1690s, the monastery was built up again that this established church was the patron of the archduke and later Emperor Joseph I consecrated. The Carmelite monastery was dissolved in 1797.

In the 17th / 18th In the 19th century, the manorial rule over the Laimgrube was largely passed to the City of Vienna's magistrate. Since the 18th century, the Laimgrube, which before had only reached to Mariahilfer Strasse, extended deep into today's 7th district and also included part of the Spittelberg.

New and old St. Joseph's Church in 1907

In 1801, Emanuel Schikaneder opened the Theater an der Wien on the Wien River , where several of Ludwig van Beethoven's symphonies were premiered. Beethoven lived in the back wing of the theater in 1803/04. In 1832, Sickingen called the theater the largest and most beautiful theater in the royal seat . 1905 had here The Merry Widow by Franz Lehar premiered. Since 2006 the city-owned theater, previously a musical stage, has been Vienna's third opera house after the State Opera and Volksoper. The area around the theater was once called the Comedy Village.

Around 1830 the Laimgrube had 8,400 inhabitants and was described as a medium, solid and clean suburb . At that time, Mariahilfer Strasse was called Laimgrube-Hauptstrasse from its beginning on the center side to Windmühlgasse . In the building that later became the monastery barracks was the large engineering academy , the building of which was built in 1769 by Duchess Theresia Anna of Savoy; engineering officers were trained here under the top management of Archduke Johann . The large collegiate church , built in 1739, was on the corner of Mariahilfer Strasse and Stiftgasse .

In 1850 the suburb was incorporated together with Mariahilf , Windmühle , Magdalenengrund and Gumpendorf as the 5th district, Mariahilf. In 1861 Mariahilf became the 6th district due to the division of the Wieden , a year later it lost the parts north of Mariahilfer Straße (including part of the Laimgrube) to the 7th district, new building.

The Laimgrubenkirche on Mariahilfer Strasse , actually St. Josef ob der Laimgrube (ob = above; the church was part of the suburb of Windmühle) was relocated in 1906/07 due to its location as a barrier to traffic after an agreement between the municipality of Vienna and the Archbishop's Ordinariate . For this purpose, the church was rebuilt at its current location in Windmühlgasse as a neo-baroque style copy , and the interior fittings of the original church were transferred to the new building just 50 meters away. This is also located in the former suburb of the windmill. After the new church was consecrated in October 1907, the old one was finally demolished.