Augarten

Palais Augarten

Porcelain Manufactory

A map of the Augarten

Garden area

The Augarten is a 52.2 hectare large, mostly public park of the federal gardens with the oldest baroque gardens in Vienna and is located in Leopoldstadt , the second district of Vienna .

General

Location and traffic

The Augarten borders (viewed clockwise) northeast on the former Nordwestbahnhof , southeast on the district around the Volkertmarkt adjacent to the Nordbahnviertel , southwest on the Karmeliterviertel and northwest on the 20th district of Vienna, Brigittenau , which was separated from the 2nd district in 1900 . To the north-west and north-east, the park wall forms the district boundary 2 / 20. The Augarten and the surrounding streets form the Augartenviertel , a ten- count district of Leopoldstadt.

The street that runs from the Augarten Bridge over the Danube Canal to the main gate of the Augarten is known as Untere Augartenstraße . The street that accompanies the park on its southwest side is called Obere Augartenstraße . The lower part of the upper Augartenstrasse and the part of the upper Augartenstrasse adjoining it in a north-westerly direction are used by tram line 31 ( Schottenring - Stammersdorf ) of Wiener Linien . The subway station Taborstraße of the subway line U2 has been located at the southern tip of the Augarten since 2008 . In the northeast, tram line 5, which was the first tram line in Vienna to be electrified in 1897, runs along Rabbiner-Schneerson-Platz and the adjacent Rauscherstrasse along the park wall.

description

In addition to a well-tended parter garden with lavish floral landscapes, the French-style garden also offers a spacious area, criss-crossed by shady avenues of chestnut , armor , linden , ash and maple trees , which provides space for both the population and tourist visitors to relax, but also for sport offers. As in almost all federal gardens in Vienna, access is not possible at night because the five park gates are closed from nightfall until early morning; Metal signs with the seasonal opening times are attached to the gates. When the Augarten is closed, the 3-kilometer-long outer park circuit is often used for sporting activities.

The Augarten Palace , the seat of the Vienna Boys' Choir , the historic Augarten Castle with the Augarten Porcelain Manufactory , the Augarten Atelier , which is currently open for use, the Filmarchiv Austria , an old people's home , the Lauder Chabad Campus , a children's outdoor pool and several sports fields are located in the Augarten . In 2012, the MuTh concert hall of the Boys' Choir was added to the southern tip of the area, on Augartenspitz . Historical relics are the two high flak towers (flak = anti-aircraft cannon) from the Second World War.

In addition to several drinking water fountains, two restaurants are available in the Augarten, one ( bunker , partly in a war bunker) on the ground floor by the southwestern park wall, one in association with the Augarten studio.

The baroque gardens, the palace and the preserved part of the original Augarten wall from the early 18th century stand since 2000 under monument protection . The park itself is one of the most important garden architectural monuments in Austria and as such is explicitly under monument protection ( No. 46 in the appendix to Section 1, Paragraph 12 of the DMSG ).

history

Augarten around 1830

Copper engraving from the entrance to the Augarten around 1782. In the background on the left, the Kahlenberg and the Leopoldsberg can be seen.

In 1614, Emperor Matthias had a small hunting lodge built in Wolfsau , a part of what was then the imperial hunting area, which at that time was still an untouched meadow landscape . Around 1650 under Ferdinand III. who bought the Am Tabor share for this purpose (see also Tabor ), a Dutch-style garden (compared to the later dimensions of the Augarten) next to the hunting lodge, and the hunting lodge was expanded. It was adjacent to the palace and garden of Count Johann Franz von Trautson , designed by Filiberto Luchese . In the 1660s, Leopold I acquired the adjoining Trautson Gardens from private ownership and a Baroque pleasure park was built in its place. Leopold I had the Trautson garden palace converted into a small palace around 1677, which he named Imperial Favorita . The name Alte Favorita was later established for the imperial pleasure palace. In the course of the second Turkish siege of Vienna in 1683, the entire complex was destroyed. Only parts of the walls of the buildings remained.

It was not until 1705 that the palace and, from 1708, the gardens were restored by the garden architect Jean Trehet under Emperor Joseph I. The garden hall built at the time is now the headquarters of the Augarten porcelain factory. A few years later, in 1712, the new regent, Charles VI. Trehet, who also realized the gardens of the Schönbrunn Palace and the Belvedere , to create a new, more complex garden in the French style. The shape of today's Augarten largely corresponds to this complex.

The triumphal arch-like entrance portal designed by Isidore Canevale

After the Vienna Prater was opened to the public in 1766, the Augarten was also made accessible to the general public on May 1, 1775 by Joseph II . On the occasion of this event, nightingales were also released and hunting them was made a criminal offense. At that time the entrance was still guarded by the military and disabled people were present in the area to maintain order. The inscription "Amusement place dedicated to all people by your Schaetzer" can still be read on the main portal of the Augarten, which was also built by Isidore Canevale in 1775 and leads directly to Augarten Castle (the headquarters of the porcelain manufacturer). In order to live up to this motto, the Augarten also housed a building with dining rooms, refreshment rooms, dance halls and billiards room next to the entrance, for which the caterer Ignaz Jahn was responsible.

High water mark

During the devastating floods that hit the areas of Vienna near the Danube on the night of February 28 to March 1, 1830 , the entire Augarten was flooded 1.75 meters high. Two memorial plaques, one on the inside of the main portal and one at the gate next to Castellezgasse, still commemorate this event. From 1860 to 1875, the Danube River was regulated and the Augarten was separated from the Danube. The former floodplain became a cultural landscape that is no longer threatened by regular floods.

From 1934 to 1936 the then Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg lived in the Augarten Palace. Until the Second World War , the history of the Augarten was relatively calm. Towards the end of the war, however, that was to change, because Adolf Hitler's war strategists had chosen the Augarten, due to its geographical location, as the ideal location for the construction of flak towers to protect Vienna's inner city. In the summer of 1944, the construction of two of the Viennese flak towers (a combat tower 55 meters high and a guide tower 51 meters high) began, which, thanks to their bizarre appearance in the middle of the garden, have now become a characteristic of the Augarten. The construction of the Viennese flak towers with the accompanying destructive phenomena (laying of 16 railway tracks, erection of extensive barracks settlements for the construction workers, etc.) affected the Augarten very badly, but in addition hundreds of cubic meters of rubble were deposited during the war and armored vehicles drove criss-cross through the gardens and mass graves were created in which many hundreds of war victims are said to have been buried.

At the end of the 1960s an attempt was made to blow up one of the two flak towers. The tower was significantly damaged - the cracks can still be seen - but remained standing. Except for the de facto indestructible towers, nothing of the days of the war can be seen today.

Cultural meaning

Memorial plaque for the Augarten concerts

On May 26, 1782, the first of the morning concerts took place in the garden hall of Augarten Castle under the direction of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , but the house also offered space for numerous other festivals and concerts. For a while, the morning concerts were conducted by Mozart himself, after which various conductors took turns until in 1795 the famous violinist Ignaz Schuppanzigh was given the direction of the concerts. Also Ludwig van Beethoven had several of his works under the direction of Schuppanzigh perform in the Augarten.

In the years 1820 to 1847, the much-attended May Day concerts took place in the garden hall of the palace, during which mainly compositions by Johann Strauss (father) were performed.

From 1998 to 2007, the meadow in front of the battle tower was home to an open-air cinema called Kino unter Sternen in the summer months of July and August . Since 2008, cinema has been running like never before in the southernmost part of the Augarten (the Augartenspitz ) as an indirect successor , a project of the Filmarchiv Austria . As part of this event, international films outside the Hollywood mainstream are shown, mostly in their original version.

From 2010, despite violent protests from residents and citizens 'initiatives, a concert and multi-purpose hall was built on Augartenspitz for the Vienna Boys' Choir Association, which leased the area. The building was opened on December 9, 2012 under the name MuTh (for music and theater ).

Facilities in the Augarten

The Schmidt votive cross

Vienna Boys 'Choir: The Vienna Boys' Choir has been located in the Palais Augarten since 1948 . In addition to a grammar school with boarding school exclusively for the boys' choir, the palace also houses a kindergarten and a private primary school with public rights, which are also open to music-loving children of both sexes. In December 2012, the MuTh concert hall for the Boys' Choir in Augarten was completed.

Porcelain Manufactory: The Augarten Porcelain Manufactory is based in the former garden hall of Augarten Castle (entrance from Oberen Augartenstrasse). To this day, high-quality porcelain is still made here by hand.

Ambrosimuseum / Thyssen-Bornemisza: The studio of the artist Gustinus Ambrosi near the entrance to Lampigasse / Scherzergasse was established in the area of the English Garden from 1955 to 2017. In addition to a sculpture garden, the Gustinus Ambrosi Museum was also located here . The Thyssen Bornemisza Art Contemporary Foundation, headed by Francesca Habsburg-Lothringen , exhibited in the artist's former home and studio from 2012 to 2017 and named the institution TBA21 - Augarten . As announced by Francesca Habsburg in November 2015, TBA21 was closed at the end of 2017 when the lease for the rooms in Augarten expired. The Gustinus Ambrosi Museum was also closed; Nothing has yet been announced about the new use of the premises.

Filmarchiv: The Filmarchiv Austria has been at home in the farm buildings of the Palais Augarten on Oberen Augartenstrasse since 1997.

Votive cross: Near the northern enclosure (entrance Wasnergasse) is Schmidt's votive cross , which was donated in 1758 and erected here in 1890.

Haus Augarten: The house (2nd, Rauscherstraße 16) is a retirement home that was opened in 1975 . The Haus Augarten café is attached to it .

Lauder- Chabad -Campus: The campus (2nd, Rabbiner-Schneerson-Platz 1 / Rauscherstrasse) was built in 1998. It includes a crèche, a kindergarten, an elementary school, a middle school and an after-school care center. The campus has its own educational academy and a synagogue.

Flak towers: A pair of flak towers , the Augarten flak towers , are unmistakable components of the park's silhouette.

Sports fields: Four federal playgrounds are used intensively, especially by schoolchildren, especially since many Viennese schools do not have their own sports facilities and therefore hold physical education classes in the Augarten.

Family outdoor pool : In the northern part of the Augarten, the Viennese city administration operates a family outdoor pool not far from Wasnergasse .

Church: The little Mother of God Church in Augarten is on the corner of Wasnergasse / Gaußplatz / Obere Augartenstraße.

Children's playgrounds and plant breeding: Numerous children's playgrounds and horticultural areas, which the federal gardens use to grow the plants required for garden design, are also part of the Augarten.

Photo gallery

Flak tower (combat tower)
Flak tower
Alleen in the Augarten
Topiary in the avenue
Wooded area in the Augarten
Children's playground
Trial gardens of the University of Vienna
Neighborhood garden Augarten
Film Archive Austria
MuTh concert hall of the Vienna Boys' Choir
Corn poppies in the Augarten

literature

Maria Auböck: Development concept for the Augarten in Vienna . In: Die Gartenkunst 4 (2/1992), pp. 187–198.
Eva Berger: Historic Gardens of Austria: Gardens and parks from the Renaissance to around 1930 . tape 3 Vienna . Böhlau, Vienna 2004, ISBN 978-3-205-99353-7 , Vienna, Schloßpark, Alte Favorita (Augarten) , p. 97 ff . ( limited preview in Google Book search).

historical:

Simon Bunke (ed.): The Augarten near Vienna (1795) . An erotic story; with an appendix on the history of the Vienna Augarten. New edition Wehrhahn, Hannover 2014, ISBN 978-3-86525-159-6 .
Franz Weller: The imperial castles and palaces in words and pictures. Hof-Buchdruckerei, Vienna 1880 ( archive.org ).