Water glacis
The water glacis in front of the Carolinentor of the Vienna city fortifications was a popular place for recreation and entertainment in the 19th century. It was located in the area of the later horticultural building , the park ring in front of it and part of the city park opposite .
history
The glacis , originally a kind of dusty desert as a free field of fire in front of the Vienna city wall , was increasingly becoming a local recreation area for city residents as early as the end of the 18th century through lawn and tree planting. In 1818 a Viennese citizen by the name of Pelikan received the approval to build a coffee house and a “drinking cure facility” in the glacis area in front of the Carolinentor. The name Wasserglacis can be traced back to this spa pavilion, in which mineral water was served.
The water glacis was already one of the most popular and therefore most frequented promenades in the time of Joseph II . In 1788 there was a coffee tent here, in which Turkish music played in the evenings. During the reign of Emperor Franz II (1792 to 1835), the water glacis developed into a popular entertainment venue. In 1818, the water glacis was embellished with the creation of avenues, ornamental gardens and a pavilion. A coffee house emerged from the pavilion in 1822. The old, open kiosk was replaced by a massive wooden structure with windows. In the mineral water and drinking cure facility, various mineral waters were poured out, which were stored in so-called " plutzers ". The thirsty people were notified of the uncorking of a plutzer by the clink of a bell. The mineral water house was located roughly at today's intersection of Weihburggasse and Parkring.
A hustle and bustle developed around the pavilion: They sold goat's milk, hollow sticks and other sweets, during the day the children played here, in the evening there were rendezvous (also commercial ones). There were charity parties and dance bands gave concerts. Johann Strauss (father) presented his Radetzky March here on August 31, 1848 . His son Johann Strauss , who has become even more famous, also launched several of his works at this location. At a festival on September 2, 1846, at which two bands performed and he presented his opus 27, the waltz Die Sanguiniker , 5000 to 6000 visitors are said to have come to the water glacis according to contemporary reports. On September 18, 1847 he presented the Fest-Quadrille , op. 44, and the waltz in the country style Dorfgeschichten , op. 47. On the occasion of a victory festival, his waltz Aeols-Töne , op. 68, was premiered on September 17, 1849 . On August 2, 1852, he performed the Annenpolka - albeit not as a first performance .
The water glacis as a place of entertainment and flirtation is also mentioned in contemporary literature, for example in Ferdinand Raimund's The Barometer Maker on the Magic Island and Johann Nestroy's Nur Ruhe (3rd act, 13th scene Couplet: “'s Madl is in her thirties , and their physiognomy no longer speaks to anyone on the water glacis ” ).
After the bastions were demolished and the Vienna Ringstrasse was created, the Vienna City Park was laid out in 1862 on the site of the water glacis .
literature
- Felix Czeike: Historisches Wien-Lexikon , Kremayr & Scheriau, 6 volumes Vienna 2004 (2nd edition)
- Joseph Ritter von Seyfried: Der Gesellschafter am Wasserglacis - a series of graceful stories, novellas and humoresques , von Hirschfeld'sche Bücherverlage, 1835 (on Google Books : Der Gesellschafter am Wasserglacis )
Web links
- Galerie Szaal - Information about the water glacis ( Memento from September 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
Individual evidence
- ↑ Bernd Fahrngruber: Construction aspects of the Vienna city expansion under Emperor Franz Joseph I .: The razing of the Vienna city wall from 1858 to 1864. Dissertation, Vienna University of Economics, 2001, p. 17f.
Coordinates: 48 ° 12 ′ 17 " N , 16 ° 22 ′ 50" E