Westfriedhof (Innsbruck)

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North portal (original main entrance)
View from the eastern arcades of the old part of the cemetery to the chapel

The Westfriedhof is one of the two main cemeteries in Innsbruck . The 4.8 hectare facility, built in 1856 and expanded in 1889, is located in the Wilten district . Together with the Ostfriedhof , it is used for the burial of the deceased throughout the city.

history

The municipal cemetery was originally located around St. Jakobs-Kirche (today's cathedral ) and since 1509 together with the hospital cemetery  in the area of ​​today's Adolf-Pichler-Platz behind the hospital church . Originally located outside the city walls, it was located in the middle of the city in the 19th century and had also become too small. From 1852 there were therefore plans to relocate the cemetery. On December 24, 1855 the Lieutenancy approved the relocation to the Wilten fields south of the Innrain in the area of ​​the then still independent community of Wilten. As the winner of a competition, civil engineer Carl Müller designed a square system based on the specifications, surrounded by arcades on all sides, based on the model of an Italian Campo Santo . The main portal was on the north side, on which the Friedhof-Allee, now completely covered with buildings of the university clinic , led from the Innrain.

The new cemetery was built between August and December 1856 and the first burial ground, one sixteenth of the site, was blessed on December 18, 1856. On February 21, 1858, the entire cemetery was solemnly consecrated. In 1859 the Protestant part of the cemetery was laid out.

After the Jewish cemetery at Judenbühel had been desecrated several times, the Jewish community received an area at the municipal cemetery in 1864. Since the Jews, like all other citizens, had to pay a cemetery tax, the city paid for the construction of the new cemetery. In 1864 the last deceased were buried at the Judenbühel, and some of the graves were subsequently moved from the old to the new Jewish cemetery.

In 1889 the cemetery was enlarged by the same size. The southern end with the chapel became the new central axis with the new main entrance on the east side. The Protestant and Jewish cemeteries were moved to the south side of the new part of the cemetery. Originally simply as urban cemetery called, he later became Central Cemetery and since the opening of Ostfriedhofs in Pradl  1912 West cemetery called.

In 1927 an urn grove was created and the chapel was rebuilt. A planned crematorium was not realized. During the Eichmann trial in 1961, two fraternity members desecrated the Jewish cemetery. The southwest corner of the cemetery was cut off in 1981 to widen the south ring . Numerous graves in the Jewish sector had to be abandoned or reburied for this.

investment

Arcades in the northern part

The cemetery consists of two roughly equal areas with a square floor plan, which are symmetrically divided into four main groups, each with four grave fields (north part: A – R, south part: 1–16). To the south, separated by a portal axis, are the Protestant and Jewish cemetery sections, each with three grave fields. The cemetery is bordered in the north by Schöpfstraße and in the south by Egger-Lienz-Straße, where there are also entrances. The entrance on the north side, the original main entrance, is crowned by a statue of the risen Christ , which was created in 1860 by Josef Gröbmer . Today's main entrance is in the east on Fritz-Pregl-Straße between the two cemetery areas. A fourth entrance is opposite the main entrance on the west side and allows access from Beselepark. The total area of ​​the cemetery is 47,700 m².

The older part in the north is surrounded on all sides by an arcade with 150 graves. It was painted by Franz Plattner , August Wörndle von Adelsfried , Georg Mader and Mathias Schmid with a cycle of frescoes in the Nazarene style, which was partially destroyed in the Second World War. The southern part only has an arcade on the north side and for a short distance on the east side, instead there are additional burial fields (17-19) on the west and east edges.

Jewish Cemetery

There are two wells in each of the two cemetery sections and a crucifix at the intersection of the main paths, which in the northern part dates from the 17th century and in the southern part by Alois Winkler from the beginning of the 20th century. In the central area between the north and south are the chapel with the mortuary halls and the urn grove.

Separated by a wall, the Jewish cemetery with three grave fields connects to the south. Along the wall in the north there are graves of Jewish soldiers from all parts of the monarchy who died in the First World War in Tyrol, in the center a memorial erected in 1925 commemorates the six fallen Jews from Innsbruck. A plaque on the east wall commemorates the victims of the Shoah .

The cemetery is a listed building . The Jewish cemetery and Hormayr's tomb under the north arcades are shown separately.

building

Chapel from the south
Entrance hall of the chapel with depiction of the Last Judgment by Franz Plattner

The chapel in the center of the axes was built in 1856 as the southern end of the cemetery. In the years 1926/1927 it was replaced by a new building according to plans by the architect Franz Wiesenberg while retaining the vestibule and expanded to include a funeral hall. Access is through the vestibule in the north and directly from the new cemetery section in the south.

The vestibule has a gable roof with a crowning turret and a gable facade with a high arched entrance. The interior is vaulted with a groin , the front yoke is provided with a needle cap barrel. From 1862 to 1864 and from 1871 Franz Plattner provided the vaults with oil tempera paintings, which show the fall of everything worldly, the Last Judgment and the heavenly Jerusalem in three large paintings after the secret revelation . Smaller medallions represent the last four things as well as prayer, alms giving and mass offering. The figurative, allegorical-symbolic representations are considered the first major work of Nazarene painting in Tyrol.

The chapel has an almost square floor plan and is covered with a flat pyramid roof. The three southern portals are involved in the arcades and half-length tympanum releifs of Franz Santifaller finished artificial stone round-arched. The west-facing interior is domed with a monastery vault and decorated with mosaics by Rudolf Jettmar and Gottlieb Schuller from 1927 and a relief by Franz Santifaller from 1926.

In the west and east of the chapel, the two funeral halls with viewing corridors are connected. These are long, flat-roofed rooms that are lit from the south through high-lying windows.

The urn cemetery , which was laid out in 1927 and expanded in 1990 according to plans by Ekkehard Hörmann , is connected to the western funeral hall, which forms a small courtyard due to its closed location between the arcades of the northern and southern parts of the cemetery and the chapel. In the surrounding walls there are regularly arranged wall niches, in the center free-standing, sarcophagus-like blocks with urn niches. Another urn cemetery is located in the southern entrance area, between the Protestant and Jewish cemetery sections.

Monuments and tombs

Saturn monument

In particular under the arcades there are numerous artistically designed tombs, which were mainly created in the period between 1860 and 1900 in the neo-Gothic or Nazarene style. They come from contemporary Tyrolean artists such as Josef Gasser , Dominikus Trenkwalder , Josef Miller , Serafin Eberhart , Edmund Klotz , Hermann Klotz , Hans Bernard and Andrea Malfatti . Some older tombs, such as the tomb designed by Alexander Colin († 1612) depicting the awakening of Lazarus or the  tomb of Josef Freiherr von Hormayr († 1779) created by Urban Klieber , were transferred here from the old cemetery.

In 1873 the city had the " Saturn Monument", a marble memorial from the grave of the Counts Wolkenstein-Trostburg , which depicts Chronos (Saturn) with a grieving woman, restored and transferred to the Westfriedhof. The memorial, created in 1775 by Josef Huber, a student of Urban Klieber, commemorates all the deceased, whose bones were transferred from the old to the new cemetery.

The  grave monument of the Count Romazkan-Cigala family, transferred from Lemberg and erected in 1885, depicting a bronze female figure with a book and a chalice on a high porphyry plinth serves today as a memorial for the honorary citizens of Innsbruck.

  • Stotter's Grave, Christ Enthroned by Josef Gasser , 1874

  • Former Count Lodron's tomb, mourners by Andrea Malfatti, 1879

  • Stumreich-Breinössl'sche grave site, The risen man meets his mother by Dominikus Trenkwalder , 1887

  • Walde's grave, Pietà by Edmund Klotz , 1900

  • Hörandtner grave, sculpture by Hans Bernard , around 1900

  • Grave of Max Stern, Mourners by Hermann Klotz , 1910

Personalities buried in the cemetery

Grave of Adolf Pichler
City grave of honor for Martin Rapoldi and Anton Eder
Grave of the Inama von Sternegg family

* ... honor grave of the city of Innsbruck

Web links

Commons : Westfriedhof, Innsbruck  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Adolf-Pichler-Platz and its eventful history. In: Innsbruck informs, August 2000, special supplement City Hall Project Innsbruck, pp. 10–11 ( digitized version )
  2. ↑ a b c d Christoph Hölz, Klaus Tragbar, Veronika Weiss (Ed.): Architectural Guide Innsbruck . Haymon, Innsbruck 2017, ISBN 978-3-7099-7204-5 , pp. 146 .
  3. ↑ Innsbruck City Post Office. In:  Innsbrucker Nachrichten , February 22, 1858, p. 1 (online at ANNO ).Template: ANNO / Maintenance / ibn
  4. ↑ Silvia Perfler: Memory of the old Jewish cemetery in Innsbruck. In: David. Jewish cultural magazine, issue 82, 09/2009 ( online )
  5. ^ Municipal council meeting on March 11, 1889. In:  Innsbrucker Nachrichten , March 13, 1889, p. 7 (online at ANNO ).Template: ANNO / Maintenance / ibn
  6. ^ Alemannia Judaica: Jewish cemeteries in Innsbruck
  7. ↑ a b Israelite cultural community for Tyrol and Vorarlberg: cemetery
  8. ^ A b Heinrich Hammer: The palaces and civil buildings of Innsbruck. Art history guide through the buildings and monuments . Hölzel, Vienna 1923, p. 200–206 ( tugraz.at [PDF; 1.4 MB ]).
  9. ↑ City of Innsbruck: The Innsbrucker Friedhöfe: Places of reflection, mirror images of life (PDF; 7.5 MB)
  10. ↑ Wiesauer: Wilten West Cemetery, City West Cemetery. In: Tyrolean art register . Retrieved October 11, 2014 .
  11. ^ Müller, Wiesauer: Friedhofskreuz. In: Tyrolean art register . Retrieved August 14, 2015 .
  12. ^ Müller, Wiesauer: Friedhofskreuz. In: Tyrolean art register . Retrieved August 14, 2015 .
  13. ↑ Müller, Wiesauer: Jewish cemetery, Wilten West cemetery. In: Tyrolean art register . Retrieved October 11, 2014 .
  14. ^ Hans Fankhauser: In memory of the architect Franz Wiesenberg. In: Official Journal of the State Capital Innsbruck, No. 5, May 1958, pp. 6–7 ( digitized version )
  15. ^ A b c d Wiesauer: mortuary, cemetery Wilten West. In: Tyrolean art register . Retrieved October 11, 2014 .
  16. ↑ The cemetery. In:  Innsbrucker Nachrichten , November 3, 1873, pp. 4–5 (online at ANNO ).Template: ANNO / Maintenance / ibn
  17. ↑ 175 new grave sites in the urn grove at the Westfriedhof. In: Innsbrucker Stadtnachrichten, January 1991, p. 13 ( digitized version )
  18. ^ Wiesauer: Urn cemetery, Wilten West cemetery. In: Tyrolean art register . Retrieved October 11, 2014 .
  19. ↑ Visiting the grave at the municipal cemetery. In:  Innsbrucker Nachrichten , October 31, 1885, p. 6 (online at ANNO ).Template: ANNO / Maintenance / ibn
  20. ↑ a b City of Innsbruck: Graves of honor of the city of Innsbruck (PDF; 223 kB)
  21. ↑ a b Our cemeteries. In:  Innsbrucker Nachrichten , November 2, 1906, p. 5 (online at ANNO ).Template: ANNO / Maintenance / ibn
  22. ↑ The city cemeteries. In:  Innsbrucker Nachrichten , October 29, 1909, p. 6 (online at ANNO ).Template: ANNO / Maintenance / ibn
  23. ↑ Tanja Chraust: Innsbruck pioneer of aviation. In: Innsbrucker Stadtnachrichten, No. 9, September 1990, p. 36 ( digitized version )

Coordinates: 47 ° 15 '32.2 "  N , 11 ° 23' 8.9"  E