Ephrussi Palace

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The Palais Ephrussi on Universitätsring , Schottengasse on the left (2013)

The Palais Ephrussi is a Ringstrasse palace in the inner city (1st district) in Vienna at Universitätsring 14 (the original address was Franzensring 24 , from 1934 to 2012 Dr.-Karl-Lueger-Ring 14 ).

location

Detailed view of Palais Ephrussi
Window of the Palais Ephrussi

The palace is located on the Ringstrasse opposite the Schottentor traffic junction , named after a city gate that no longer exists, since 1980 with the Schottentor underground station on the U2 line . From 1865, Vienna's first horse-drawn tramway in the direction of Hernals ran from here . The main building of the University of Vienna and the former main building of the Creditanstalt-Bankverein are also opposite the Palais. The Sigmund Freud Park opens up behind the Schottentor tram stops, and behind it Rooseveltplatz with the architecturally dominant Votive Church , a prominent photo motif of the city.

history

The palace was built by Theophil von Hansen from 1872 to 1873 when Vienna's Ringstrasse was being built for the Odessa banker Ignaz von Ephrussi . Several other important historicist buildings in the area of ​​the Ringstrasse, such as the Parliament building , the Vienna Music Association , the Vienna Stock Exchange , the Palais Epstein and the Heinrichhof , also originate from this architect . In contrast to the Heinrichhof, Hansen planned this building not as a residential courtyard, but as a palace. The magnificent vestibule, the grand staircase and the stately living rooms bear witness to this. In the glass-roofed inner courtyard there is a fountain with a terracotta figure of Apollo .

The palace was the residence of the Viennese branch of the Ephrussi family , most recently of Viktor (von) Ephrussi (1860–1945) and his wife Emmy, née Schey von Koromla (1880–1938). After the “Anschluss” of Austria in 1938, it was “ Aryanized ” because the Ephrussi family was of Jewish descent. The Viennese branch of the family had to flee and was financially ruined. The Nazi regime used the palace as an office building; the most representative floor of the building was assigned to the Rosenberg office .

After the war, the palace was initially used by the American army of occupation. In 1950 it was handed over to the English lawyer Elisabeth de Waal, b. Ephrussi (1899–1991) restituted , but could only be sold at a low price in Vienna during the occupation. Almost the entire inventory such as furniture and valuable works of art was stolen - with the exception of a collection of 264 netsuke , a wedding gift from Parisian relative Charles Ephrussi (1849–1905) for Viktor and Emmy von Ephrussi, who are now in the possession of the family's great-great grandson, Edmund de Waal . During the Nazi era, the netsuke were hidden in her mattress by the loyal domestic worker Anna, and Elisabeth de Waal was surrendered in December 1945 when she visited her former parents' house.

From 1969 to 2009 the headquarters of Casinos Austria were located in the palace .

The palace has received attention since 2010 when Edmund de Waal performed The Hare with Amber Eyes in London and New York . A Hidden Inheritance . The family history also describes the Viennese branch of Ephrussis and her palace. The title of the book refers to a piece from the Netsuke collection saved for the family . A special exhibition about this and about the Ephrussi family took place in the Jewish Museum Vienna in winter 2019/2020 .

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ On the invisible value of things In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung of August 21, 2011, page 22
  2. ↑ German: The hare with the amber eyes. The hidden legacy of the Ephrussi family , translated by Brigitte Hilzensauer

Web links

Commons : Palais Ephrussi  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 48 ° 12 ′ 49 ″  N , 16 ° 21 ′ 44 ″  E