Martin barracks

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South facade of the main building

The Martinkaserne is a barracks of the Austrian Armed Forces in Eisenstadt in Burgenland .

The area with the buildings is in the northeast of the Eisenstadt urban area on the L 213. The main building is oriented from west to east and is under monument protection according to the decision of the Federal Monuments Office.

history

Building history

The events of the revolution of 1848/1849 led to an increased need for officers and executives and, subsequently, to the establishment of cadet schools in the Austrian Empire . Several barracks were built, such as the Arsenal (Vienna) (1849 to 1856), the Rossauer barracks in Vienna (1865 to 1869) and the Martinkaserne. After the emperor had reformed the military's educational system in 1852, the Obergespan von Ödenburg commissioned the Eisenstadt magistrate in October 1852 to provide twenty cadastral bays as building sites and to use the town's brick kilns , quarries and sandpits .

Main portal on the south side
Dental treatment at the military high school, (later Martinkaserne), 1912

In May 1853, the building tender for the "Kadetteninstitut Eisensatdt" was issued with the following specifications:

  • three-story building with three projections
  • 144 meters long and 15.6 meters wide
  • Swimming school and enclosure wall
  • Construction costs 300,000  fl.  CM ( convention coins )
  • Completed July 30, 1855

Under the construction management of Sigismund von Malinowski, captain of the staff of genius, the symmetrical, long three-wing main building was built as a counterweight to the Esterházy Palace in the west of the city . A sports field and a swimming school with a preheating pool were also built in the park-like area. Construction began on August 2, 1853, but the date of the planned completion was delayed, so that the opening did not take place until May 1, 1858 with a delay of almost three years.

When the construction pit for the foundation began in August 1853, layers of rock that had to be blasted were often encountered. This in turn caused groundwater to enter the construction pit, which already led to a considerable delay in the progress of construction during the preparatory work. Because there were further delays in construction - presumably also for financial reasons - and the building had barely reached the height of the first floor by the planned completion date in July 1855, serious consideration was given in 1856 to discontinuing construction due to the slow progress. Nevertheless, the construction was completed, and the final construction work continued into 1859 even after the official opening. In addition to exceeding the planned construction time, the forecast construction costs were also significantly exceeded, which ultimately were just over 953,096 florins, i.e. more than three times the budget.

Between 1955 and 1959 a general renovation of the building was carried out at a cost of around 30 million schillings and the former staff building from 1906 was converted into a sick bay. A general restoration in stages began towards the end of the 20th century. It started with the chapel, followed by renovations and restorations of the surrounding wall of the complex, the base zone of the building made of natural stone and the interior area in the western ground floor wing. Further work involved restoring the representative vestibule to its original state and restoring the weathered and dirty facade.

Usage history

After the opening in 1858, 200 pupils from Straß in Styria were relocated to Eisenstadt.

In 1871, as part of the reorganization of the military institute, the cadet institute was dissolved and in 1873 it was converted into an infantry barracks . Two infantry battalions were housed in the barracks.

After the two infantry battalions were moved to Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1878, they were converted into a military lower secondary school for 240 pupils and in 1909 the military upper secondary school was set up.

During the First World War , from 1914 to 1918 front-line cadres of several regiments were housed in the barracks. In 1918 the barracks were renamed "Honved-Oberrealschule" . The commandant was the major of the Hungarian National Army and Knight Theresa Jakob Vass-Wiblinger.

In 1922, the federal middle school including the student dormitory moved into the third floor of the building and the "Burgenland Field Jäger Battalion No. 1" was moved from Wiener Neustadt to the barracks in Eisenstadt.

After the fall of the Habsburg Monarchy , Austria was granted the German-speaking part of western Hungary in the Treaty of St. Germain . With the "Federal Constitutional Law on the Status of Burgenland as an independent and equal state in the Federation and through its provisional establishment" of January 25, 1921, the admission of Burgenland as a separate federal state in the Republic of Austria could be regulated. On July 15, 1922, the newly elected Burgenland Landtag met for its constituent meeting in the barracks in Eisenstadt and the second floor was used by the Burgenland Landtag from then until 1930. The youngest federal state's first state parliament president was Josef Wimmer .

Special postage stamp "17 years AssE / GRÜ "

Between 1938 and 1945 the German Wehrmacht used the area of ​​the barracks, which then served as quarters for the Soviet occupying forces until 1955 .

In 1957, the first conscripts were able to move into the school barracks, in which the 2nd Infantry Battalion was stationed.

The school barracks were renamed "Martinkaserne" after the patron saint of the country, St. Martin of Tours , in 1967.

Today the barracks houses the Burgenland Military Command , parts and the command of the Army Troop School and the Burgenland Military Music . Until the end of the assistance mission, the task force for the security police assistance mission after the Schengen expansion (= AssE / SchE) was stationed here.

Building description

Outside

Western part of the south central projection

The building of the former cadet school, which is based on the Viennese arsenal, was erected as a mighty brick and stone building in a neo-Romanesque - Moorish style on an area of ​​around 7,342 square meters and has a wide facade.

The four-storey building is strictly symmetrical and has three projections each on the north and south façades. The building consists of an east-west facing four-storey longitudinal wing with a total length of 146.9 meters and a width of 47.74 meters, which is covered with a gable roof. In the middle of the north and south façades there is a gable-crowned, but differently designed, central projection under a common roof.

On the east and west side of the building there are two identically designed gable-crowned corner projections, which are connected in pairs via a shared gable roof. These three window axes wide risalits protrude by three inner and four outer window axes. This arrangement results in two lateral and one central transverse wing, which are connected to one another by wing structures of the longitudinal wing. Because of the different widths of the central projections, the 15.4 meter wide wing buildings on the north and south sides are of different lengths. They have twelve window axes on the south side and ten on the north side and have a gable roof with dormer windows .

The structure in risalites roughly follows the principles of high baroque palace construction and thus softens the impression created by the strict symmetry and the block-like style. The deep corner projections at the end of the elongated wing buildings and the flatter central projection create a courtyard-like situation in the north and south of the barracks building .

The ground floor rises above a base made of light gray ashlar masonry, which is made of horizontally banded light and dark gray ashlar masonry. The three upper floors are made of horizontally alternately banded brick and ashlar masonry with alternating red-yellow-red horizontal brick associations. The floor heights of the ground floor and the three upper floors are different, which is due to function-related building regulations depending on the use of the rooms on the floor in question. This sometimes results in different window heights on the individual floors. At the corners of the building there are polygonal crowned pillar templates that are drawn over the roof.

Three cranked cornices that limit the various wall shapes, rotate the building: A Sockelgesims on Sohlbankhöhe the ground floor window between ground and first floor a wide, double vorkragendes string course on Sohlbankhöhe the window of the first upper floor and a cornice as superior facade, which through a console-like Arched frieze is supported by ceramic medallions on the inside . A toothed frieze made of bricks runs at the level of the window sill on the second floor .

The facade is structured by arched windows, which are equipped with arched ends and ceramic outer arches . Twin windows each form the central window axis of the corner projections and the inner lateral window axes of the northern central projection. Triple windows are located on the central window axes of both central projections.

The central projection of the south facade is staggered to the front. The triaxial gable risalit is flanked by uniaxial, flat side risalites. A portico with three arched arcades , which rest on pillars with projected polygonal pillars, is presented to the gable projection on the ground floor in the line of the side projections. Behind the portico there is a round arched gate in the middle that leads into the vestibule . To the side of it in the axes of the arcades is an arched window.

The portico acts as a with a parapet -provided Altan for the first floor. Above this, a triple window is arranged on the central window axis of each of the three upper floors, the central one being larger. There is an arched window on each of the lateral window axes.

Above the third floor there is an inscription plaque “Franz Joseph I. MDCCCLVII” and above in the gable is a wheel window with small lateral wheel ornaments. The side elevations each have an attic storey with seven narrow arched windows on the facade front and three on the outer risalit sides. The round arches of the windows rest on columns with romanised capitals.

In contrast to that of the south facade, the gable risalit on the north facade is not behind, but in front of the side elevations that are flanking it and are wider with four axes. In each of these there is a staircase with two opposite stairs. Like those on the south facade, these side elevations have an attic floor with small arched windows, eight windows each on the facade front and three on the side. On the ground floor of the gable risalit, a romanizing, flat funnel portal, each flanked by an arched window, opens up the vestibule.

Since the chapel, which extends over two floors, is located above the portal, there are three Gothic tracery windows on the facade , which extend over two floors and the middle one is larger. On the third floor above the tracery windows of the chapel is a triple window, the middle of which is larger. It is flanked by double arched windows. In the gable there is a wheel window with small wheel ornaments on the side.

The north and south facades of the four corner projections are designed the same. They have double arched windows on the central window axis of all floors, on both sides a lateral arched window and a wheel window with small, lateral wheel ornaments in the gable. The facades facing the central risalit have arched windows in the three window axes of the upper floors and in the middle window axis of the ground floor and a side portal that is flanked by arched windows.

The east and west façades, which connect the corner projections in the east and west, each have a very flat, three-axis central projection with a gable. The central projections are flanked by four-axis side facades. On each window axis of the central risalite and the side façades, there are arched windows with arched ends and ceramic outer arches.

  • South facade of the eastern longitudinal wing

  • Eastern corner elevation, view from the southwest

  • Third floor and gable of the central projectile

  • Detail of the east transverse wing

Inside

Martinkaserne, corridor on the 1st floor of the east wing
Martinkaserne, marble pillars with capital in the cafeteria (detail)

The main portals on the ground floor of the central projectile are connected to each other via the central nave of a three-aisled vestibule as a passage. A short staircase leads from the vestibule to the main corridors running along the two longitudinal wings on the ground floor and to the two-way, opposing main staircases in the northern central projection. These open up the main corridors of the three upper floors, which at the other end each lead into a two-way, opposing side staircase and into the corridors of the two transverse wings. The corridors on the ground floor of the two transverse wings lead to the side entrances at the ends of the wing, which are located in the corner projections on the sides facing the central projections.

The north-south running vestibule is located on the ground level of the central transverse wing, is 27 meters long, 13.3 meters wide, a maximum of 5.2 meters high and extends over six bays. A yoke is designed as a transept with stair access to the main stairs, which flank the vestibule in the north-east and north-west. Profiled belt arches stretch over ten free pillars and eighteen wall pillars, which divide the room into eighteen vaults designed as busbars .

The corridors along the two longitudinal wings run on all floors on the north side and open up the rooms facing south. The main corridors on the ground floor are arched round and divided into yokes according to the window axes via belt arches that continue to the floor via wall templates. The main corridors on the first and second floors differ from those on the first floor in that they are flat arched and that the belt arches on the second floor end at the upper window border. The corridors of the third floor are flat covered.

On the first floor of the longitudinal wing there is a dining room to the east and a ballroom to the west. Both halls are 4.9 meters high, 8.7 meters wide, flatly vaulted and divided by wide belt arches on pillars in yokes that follow the window axes. The dining room is 36.85 meters long, the ballroom 32.5 meters.

There is a cafeteria on the ground floor of the western transverse wing . In the middle of the room there is a polygonal marble pillar with a capital that tapers towards the top. There are layered pilasters on the walls. Belt arches between the pilasters and the central pillar create a four-bay vault.

The chapel

The Holy Grave, designed by Markus Kniepeiß

Above the northern part of the vestibule is the chapel, which extends over two floors and borders the two main stairs and the main corridors of the first and second floors.

The chapel, originally built in the style of historicism, was completely renovated in 1958 on the occasion of the centenary of the barracks. The stained glass windows in the choir, the altar and the marble floor date from this year. After the renovation, the chapel was consecrated on November 20, 1958 by the then Apostolic Administrator of Burgenland, Bishop Stephan László . The patron saint is Saint Martin . As the son of an officer who fell in World War I , Bishop Lászlò attended the military secondary school in the barracks himself. Another renovation with the erection of the popular altar took place in 1998.

In the choir there are three arched niches with Gothic tracery windows and a larger double central window. This window, donated by the Burgenland provincial government , was created by Lucia Jirgal and depicts St. Martin as a Roman officer and St. Barbara as the patroness of the artillery men. The two side windows were donated by the Free City of Eisenstadt and symbolize the main products of Burgenland at that time, bread and wine .

The main entrance consists of a round arched door opposite the choir. It is flanked by two arched windows that open in arched niches towards the main corridor. Two slender marbled columns support the approximately 2-meter-wide gallery, which is located above the main entrance on the level of the second floor. The coffered gallery parapet has a slightly protruding, console-supported central section about 2 meters wide. In the middle of the gallery a round arched door leads to the main corridor on the second floor. It is flanked by two windows in round arch niches.

The side walls of the chapel are divided by two round-arched stucco marble surfaces made of marbled filler casting in raised round-arch niches. The ceiling, like the two pillars that support the gallery, is from the time the building was built. It is decorated with a stucco band running about 2 meters from the wall along the ceiling ledge, which is connected to the wall by six decorative arches. The side of the decorative arches facing the interior has stucco parts that imitate a Gothic keystone (" hanging "). Outside a portico with ten arches and ten capitals is indicated on all four sides. On a square surface in the middle of the ceiling is an eight-pointed star with four angel heads in the middle. This representation symbolizes order and clarity. The star is framed by a square stucco band that is painted in a delicate blue and decorated with gold.

The interior of the chapel includes the altar made of Untersberg marble , which comes from the workshop of Gerald Strack from Loretto . The tabernacle, the altar cross and the candlesticks, which are a gift from the military bishop Christian Werner , come from St. George's Cathedral in Wiener Neustädter Burg ( Theresian Military Academy ) . On the ambo are representations of the four evangelists .

Four pictures with scenes from the life of Jesus hang on the walls: The birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, the flight of the Holy Family to Egypt, the twelve-year-old Jesus in the temple and Jesus as a carpenter in Nazareth. They are painted in the style of the Nazarenes . There are four saints made of pressed sandstone on the wall brackets, depicting Saints George , Urban , Antonius of Padua and Johannes Nepomuk .

  • Martinkaserne, central window of the chapel

  • Martinkaserne, ceiling detail in the chapel with "hanging man"

  • The twelve year old Jesus in the temple

See also

literature

  • “Monument Today” Preservation of Monuments in Austria, Volume 5, Issue 2/2013, pp. 10–11, ed. Austrian Society d. Monument lovers.
  • Diploma thesis "The former kk Kadetteninstitut in Eisenstadt" (PDF; 3.9 MB) by Helmut Prinke, accessed on November 12, 2013.
  • Festschrift "150 Years of Martinskaserne and Chapel in Martinskaserne Eisenstadt", ed. Federal Ministry for National Defense, military parish at the Burgenland Military Command, Eisenstadt November 2008.

Web links

Commons : Martin-Kaserne (Eisenstadt)  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
Commons : Chapel of Martin-Kaserne (Eisenstadt)  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Burgenland - immovable and archaeological monuments under monument protection. ( Memento of September 3, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) . Federal Monuments Office , as of June 28, 2013 (PDF).
  2. ↑ "Monument Today" p. 10.
  3. ↑ "Monument Today" p. 11.
  4. ↑ a b Festschrift “150 Years Martinskaserne ...” p. 29 ff.
  5. ^ Performance of the Military Music Burgenland on the website of "Militärmusikfreunde.at" ( Memento from February 7, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) accessed on April 5, 2013.
  6. ↑ Diploma thesis Prinke p. 16.
  7. ↑ Dehio Burgenland 1976 , Eisenstadt, Neuere Bauten, Kaserne, p. 83.
  8. ↑ Diploma thesis Prinke p. 17.
  9. ↑ Diploma thesis Prinke p. 24.
  10. ↑ Diploma thesis Prinke p. 26.
  11. ^ A b Website of the Austrian Catholic Military Pastoral Care.

Coordinates: 47 ° 51 ′ 5 ″  N , 16 ° 32 ′ 1 ″  E