Resting place of the knights of the Maria Theresa Order

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The resting place of the knights of the Maria Theresa Order was a construction project for a memorial including a grave, which was planned in Vienna at the time of Emperor Franz Joseph I , but was never implemented.

Idea and background

The plan was to create a common and patriotic burial place for members of the Maria Theresa Order , the highest military distinction of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy .

It is not known where the idea for this originally came from. In 1910 negotiations began on the sale of the eastern part of the Schmelz by the imperial military to the city ​​of Vienna . The fact that the suburban cemeteries were closed around the same time made it necessary to exhumate numerous knights of the Maria Theresa Order and move them to other cemeteries, most of which were transferred to the Vienna Central Cemetery .

Against this background, the demand arose not to let the unique opportunity pass by and to create a permanent burial site for the knights of the order, which should also serve as a memorial of honor.

History of the project

The “resting place of the knights of the Maria Theresa Order” was to be built in Vienna , either on the Schmelz or in the central cemetery .

The central cemetery as the site of a crypt of honor was promoted by a doctoral committee headed by City Councilor Hans Arnold Schwer and supported by Mayor Neumayer as honorary president.

On the other hand, the architect Friedrich Ohmann went public with the demand that the memorial should be erected in a more central location and not "pushed" to the central cemetery on the eastern outskirts of Vienna. He suggested that the area of ​​the abandoned and historic cemetery on the Schmelz be used in this way respectfully and that the newly emerging district outside the belt be given an architectural center. Otto Wagner took this project into account and also included a chapel for the knights of the Maria Theresa order in his plans for the city museum " Opus IV ".

In 1911, the City of Vienna dedicated a building site in the area of ​​the Schmelzer Friedhof (today's March Park ), whereupon the Monument Committee followed up with an appeal for donations. City councilor Schwer invited the architects Friedrich Ohmann and Max Hegele as well as the sculptors Cesar Poppovits and Max Weber to a competition to decide who should realize the project.

The original plan was to inaugurate the monument in 1913, on the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Leipzig . The fact that this deadline could not be kept caused the execution to stagnate and the outbreak of war in 1914 finally prevented the realization.

Designs from the 1911 competition

  • Max Hegele's project (according to whose plans the Lueger Church at the central cemetery had already been built) envisaged a large hall with a monument to Maria Theresa - the name giver - in the middle, on the walls the names of the knights and a relief frieze for the founding of the order decisive Battle of Kolin . The crypt was designed for 80 knights and should act as the base of the hall from the outside.
  • The project by Cesar Poppovits, who worked on behalf of the company "Wiener Friedhofskunst", involved the painter Alfred Basel and the mosaic artist Leopold Forstner . The outer appearance of the burial place was a massive pylon with the relief of a knight in armor . Like Hegel's design, the crypt offered space for 80 sarcophagi , which were to be placed here in their own cells. In the corner rooms, the names of those knights who were buried in other places should be given on tablets.

literature

  • The Unbuilt Vienna, Projects for the Metropolis 1800–2000 Catalog Historisches Museum der Stadt Wien, Vienna 1999