Wilhelm von Schwarz-Senborn

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Wilhelm Freiherr von Schwarz-Senborn, around 1870
Coat of arms on the occasion of its elevation to the Austrian baron class in 1869.

Wilhelm Freiherr von Schwarz-Senborn (born June 12, 1816 in Vienna , † August 4, 1903 in Hinterbrühl ) was an Austrian economist, popular educator and diplomat. He became known as the general director of the 1873 World Exhibition in Vienna.

biography

Origin and education

Wilhelm Schwarz-Senborn was the son of a teacher. His father came from Saxony, his mother was of French origin. After studying at the Polytechnic Institute of the University of Vienna, he received his doctorate in chemistry and initially worked as a pharmacist. As an advocate of the emerging mechanization, tried to promote its spread.

In 1840 he joined the Lower Austrian Trade Association as a chancellery , to which the Viennese economy belonged at the time. In 1841 he became its secretary. After study trips to Italy and Germany, he moved to the newly established Ministry of Commerce in 1848 .

In the diplomatic service

In 1850 Schwarz-Senborn took over the position of consul general in London, and from 1854 he was head of the Austrian consulate in Paris . From 1860 he became a permanent representative of Austria at international exhibitions. After taking care of several industrial exhibitions in Germany and London, he was entrusted with the management of the Austrian section of the London World Exhibition in 1862 . Between 1860 and 1866 he was also the personal advisor to Emperor Franz Joseph .

With the Vienna diploma on December 15, 1860, he was raised to the knighthood, with the Vienna diploma on July 22, 1869, he was raised to the rank of baron including improvement of the coat of arms.

World Exhibition 1873

"Master Forward Black."
The organizer did not need to worry about ridicule (woodcut from 1872)

See The role of the exhibition director Schwarz-Senborn 1873

On the recommendation of industrialists like Franz von Wertheim and at the request of the Emperor, Schwarz-Senborn was appointed General Director of the planned 1873 World Exhibition in Vienna on January 9, 1871 . In August of that year he opened an office on Vienna's Ringstrasse . In public he approached his work with ruthless confidence. As a result, the expectations of the Viennese population regarding the material aftermath of the exhibition increased to a complete certainty of victory. Schwarz-Senborn was already criticized during the preparatory work. On the one hand, his management style was described as idiosyncratic and chaotic, and on the other, he was accused of preferring foreign companies to the domestic economy when awarding contracts. The fact that 16 million guilders were already being spent at the start of the exhibition for a budgeted 6 million guilders was another cause for criticism. The exhibition site was a chaotic construction site long after it opened. During the exhibition, the confusion of the entire site arrangement and the confusing lack of plan in the exhibition catalogs were criticized. But even after the exhibition ended, he was accused of cost overruns and, in general, of the financial failure of the exhibition. A significant part of the failure was awarded to Schwarz-Senborn through the participation of more than 35 nations.

Johann Strauss dedicated the "Rotunda Quadrille" to him in his honor . Although he played it during the world exhibition, it was first printed at a time when Schwarz-Senborn was no longer director of the world exhibition.

Popular education

Schwarz-Senborn was associated with the idea of ​​popular education all his life. In 1848 he founded the Austrian Folk Writing Association together with Alexander Helfert .

Schwarz-Senborn later made an appearance in Vienna when the “ Photographic Society ” was founded, and in 1864 he was involved in organizing the first photo exhibition in the German-speaking region in Vienna. This show included photographs by numerous Parisian photographers, such as Aimé Civiale, Alphonse Poitevin, Charles Nègre, Ernest Lacan, François-Marie Gobinet de Villecholle (Franck), Édouard Baldus and Alphonse Davanne, as well as Austrians such as the explorers Karl von Scherzer or Oscar Kramer were involved. During the world exhibition in 1873, Schwarz-Senborn wanted to have the construction phases on the exhibition grounds documented. To this end, he granted a license for photographic recordings and their distribution to a group of photographers, the “ Vienna Photographers Association ”.

After the world exhibition in 1873, Schwarz-Senborn created a foundation for the establishment and promotion of folk education institutions from the substantial fees he had received from Austrian industry for his work as an exhibition manager. His best-known foundation from these funds was the women's training institute “Athenaeum” (see below).

In 1879, on the initiative of Schwarz-Senborn, the “non-profit association” was set up in the ninth district of Vienna, which offered the first free library. As an honorary member, he was closely associated with the Upper Austrian People's Education Association. Initially, he paid the expenses of the Lower Austrian People's Education Association, which he co-founded in 1885.

In 1885, Schwarz-Senborn was a co-founder of the Lower Austrian People's Education Association, in the early days of which he took over the financing. He was an honorary member of the Upper Austrian People's Education Association.

Athenaeum Institute

As a sponsor, Schwarz-Senborn played a key role in the establishment of the women's training institute “Athenaeum” in 1872. Especially in connection with this project, Schwarz-Senborn came under repeated criticism. The company, initially conceived as a “universal institute” with the support of Archduke Rainer, was supposed to exhibit the remaining exhibits from the world exhibition. The use of these objects led to disputes between Schwarz-Senborn, the Lower Austrian Trade Association and Trade Minister Anton von Banhans . The exhibition expert Wilhelm Exner worked out his own concept and, under the patronage of the Lower Austrian Trade Association , prepared the establishment of the Technological Trade Museum . The exhibits of the Athaneum were included in the exhibition concept. Exner sought cooperation with Trade Minister Anton von Banhans and managed to transfer the objects left over from the exhibition to the collection of the trade museum. Schwarz-Senborn was accused of having no clear line recognizable in his exhibition concept and that the exhibits were displayed chaotically.

Later years

Among other things, to clear the stage for Exner's plans, Schwarz-Senborn was praised as ambassador to Washington, DC in 1874 . A short time later he returned to Vienna for financial reasons, but was unable to realize his political dreams of a position as mayor of Vienna - as the one he wanted to expand the city - but even after his return.

Schwarz-Senborn has been an honorary citizen of Windischgarsten since 1876 .

Schwarz-Senborn died in the Hinterbrühl of mental derangement. He is buried in the family vault at Hietzinger Friedhof .

literature

Web links

Commons : Wilhelm Schwarz-Senborn  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Schwarz von Senborn, Wilhelm Frh. Von, statesman and diplomat (1816-1903)
  2. ^ Jutta Pemsel: The Vienna World Exhibition of 1873: The Wilhelminian Vienna at the turning point. Vienna / Cologne, Böhlau Verlag 1989, p. 44f, ISBN 3205052471
  3. ↑ Rotunda Quadrille, op.360, accessed on February 20, 2009
  4. ↑ The first photo exhibition in the German-speaking area in 1864 ( Memento of the original from December 29, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 1.2 MB) accessed on February 22, 2009 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.albertina.at
  5. ↑ exhibit the world. Vienna scene in 1873 . Publisher Technisches Museum Wien, p. 76 ff., ISBN 3-902183-10-1 .
  6. ↑ deaths. In:  Neue Freie Presse , August 6, 1903, p. 8 (online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / Maintenance / nfpRetrieved August 15, 2013
personal data
SURNAME Schwarz-Senborn, Wilhelm von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Schwarz-Senborn, Wilhelm Freiherr von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian diplomat
DATE OF BIRTH June 12, 1816
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH 4th August 1903
Place of death Hinterbrühl