Mathias Gschnitzer

Crypt of the Gschnitzer and Gessele families in the Petersfriedhof Salzburg , in which Mathias Gschnitzer is also buried

Mathias Gschnitzer (born July 10, 1808 in Salzburg ; † October 29, 1884 there ) was an Austrian member of the Reichstag, mayor of the city of Salzburg and co-founder of the International Mozarteum Foundation .

Life

Gschnitzer was a member of the community committee from 1841 to 1850 and was elected mayor of the city of Salzburg in 1847 to succeed Alois Lergetporer . In 1848 and 1849 he was a member of the Reichstag in Vienna and Kremsier .

During his term of office, which lasted until 1850, the municipal council under his leadership sent a letter to the National Assembly in Frankfurt am Main in November 1848 , in which the adherence to the German state was demanded and in 1849 a petition to the Chamber of Deputies in Munich , in which the Salzburg municipal council voted unanimously for Austria to remain in the German Reich Association. During his time as mayor, the Salzburg Museum was also taken over by the city, under its founder and then director Vinzenz Maria Süß . In the same year, the widow of Emperor Franz I was able to win a patroness for this institution, which has since gained fame far beyond the borders of Salzburg as the Museum Carolino Augusteum . At the suggestion of Gschnitzers, on September 27, 1849, "Michaelsplatz" was renamed "Mozartplatz".

The most important milestone in Gschnitzer's term of office was the separation of the previous Salzach district from the Crown Land of Austria on the Enns on January 1, 1850 and the associated emergence of the Crown Land of Salzburg and the upgrading of the City of Salzburg to the state capital . On August 26th, 1850, on an initiative of Gschnitzer, the local council decided to petition the Ministry of Commerce regarding the first regulation of the Salzach .

After resigning from his mayor's office, he was a member of the municipal council from 1851 to 1860 and, as a member of the Chamber of Commerce, from 1861 to 1870, a member of the Salzburg state parliament and, during the same period, a member of the Reichsrat in Vienna. In total, he was president for 17 years, vice president for two years and councilor of the Salzburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry for nine years. During this time he founded Austria's first synthetic wool factory and was also instrumental in founding the former Salzburg trade association school and the Salzburger Sparkasse .

Gschnitzer was considered an expert in transport matters and was a delegate of an inquiry into railroad matters. In 1873 he acted as vice-president of the regional commission for the Vienna world exhibition and in 1878 he was president of the local commission for the world exhibition in Paris . He was also a member of the Liberal Association, board member of the Salzburg Museum, co-founder of the International Mozarteum Foundation, and co-founder and deputy board member of the Association of Salzburg Regional Studies.

After the surprising death of Mayor Franz Xaver Späth in 1853, Gschnitzer was interim mayor as deputy mayor until the new election of Alois Spängler in 1854. After his death on October 29, 1884, Mathias Gschnitzer found his final resting place in the Gschnitzer-Gessele'schen Family crypt in the Petersfriedhof Salzburg .

predecessor	Office	successor
Alois Lergetporer	Mayor of Salzburg 1847 - 1850	Franz Xaver Späth

literature

• Ludwig Netsch: The Salzburg mayors from 1847. Documentation of the city of Salzburg. Magistrat Salzburg - Documentation about what is happening in the city, Salzburg 1987.