Viennese cemeteries

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Row of graves in the Vienna Central Cemetery

The Viennese cemeteries are existing and former cemeteries in today's urban area of Vienna . By far the largest of these is the Vienna Central Cemetery .

history

The Alsergrund 1609: on the left the Alservorstadt with the church behind
Around 1700: cemetery around St. Stephen's Cathedral

Originally, the dead were also buried in Vienna in the immediate vicinity of the church. These medieval “courtyards”, which were laid out around the parish churches , were not only burial sites, but also places of public life where people traded and celebrated. The name Freithof goes back to the meaning of "enclosed place". Later the term was reinterpreted as "cemetery".

At first there were open courtyards around the Ruprecht Church and St. Peter's Church , later burial places were added around the parish churches of St. Stephan , St. Michael and “Our Lady” ( Schottenstift ).

As early as the 16th century, however, due to a lack of space and hygienic reasons, first efforts were made to move the cemeteries from today's old town to the suburbs. Due to the large number of victims caused by the plague , cemeteries had to be built outside the city walls for the first time. One example of this was the Imperial Church of God in front of the Schottentor (today Altes AKH , Höfe 8 and 9), which was laid out from 1561 and consecrated in 1576. The Protestant Viennese were subsequently buried here and were given their own department from 1598. A Jewish cemetery was first mentioned in 1629 in Rossau, Seegasse 9-11 .

In the course of the 18th century, the burial places within the Vienna city walls were closed; only the use of the church tombs was allowed to continue, and of course the imperial tomb was inviolable. Towards the end of the 18th century, the epidemic and hygiene ordinance issued by Emperor Joseph II as part of his Josephine reforms led to the abandonment of the cemeteries within the line wall surrounding the suburbs (which stretched roughly along the current belt ). The former cemeteries were built or converted into green spaces. Burial in church tombs has now been banned, with the exception of the imperial tomb, St. Stephen's tomb and the Salesian monastery. Since these reforms there are no more cemeteries in the inner districts of the city; the only exception are the remains of the Jewish cemetery in Rossau.

As a replacement for the abandoned cemeteries, five communal cemeteries were created outside the line wall in 1784 , the Hundsturmer Friedhof , the Matzleinsdorfer Friedhof , the Währinger Friedhof , the Schmelzer Friedhof (instead of the one originally planned in Brigittenau ) and the Sankt Marxer Friedhof . This is the only one of the five cemeteries that has been preserved and is now a listed building. Since the Jewish cemetery in Rossau was also closed to occupancy , the Währing Jewish cemetery was created outside the lines as a replacement , which is no longer occupied today.

In the middle of the 19th century, due to the growing population of Vienna, it was foreseeable that the municipal cemeteries would soon reach the limits of their capacity, the City of Vienna planned the construction of a large cemetery far outside the city limits of that time and decided in 1869.

The Vienna Central Cemetery between the later districts of Simmering and Kaiserebersdorf (since 1892: 11th district) in the southeast of the city was opened in 1874 and was the largest cemetery in Europe at that time. A Jewish cemetery was built on part of the area (1st gate), later a Protestant (4th gate, today entrance at the 3rd gate) and another Jewish cemetery (5th gate, today 4th gate) were added. On the main interdenominational part of the cemetery (2nd and 3rd gate), a few smaller cemeteries or sections of various religious communities were created.

In 1881, the construction of an honorary grave complex began in the central cemetery . Today there are honorary graves in numerous Viennese cemeteries by the city administration and graves which, although the deceased are no longer considered worthy of an honorary grave, are preserved because of their historical importance.

In 1922 the Simmering fire hall , the first Austrian crematorium , was opened, which the social democratic mayor Jakob Reumann had enforced against the will of the Catholic Church and the Christian Social Federal Government. The Simmering fire hall and the adjoining cemetery are located on the grounds of the former garden of the Neugebauten Palace in the immediate vicinity of the central cemetery.

In the post-war period, the municipal council decided in 1953 to close several smaller municipal cemeteries by 1975; they were cemeteries in the suburbs of Vienna incorporated in 1892 (outside of the former line wall). In 1975 these closings were postponed for ten years, as emotional ties to these cemeteries were emphasized in the affected districts.

In 1980 a referendum took place on the subject that had proven controversial ; the ruling Social Democrats did not want to expose themselves to popular anger because of the cemeteries. It affected the cemeteries Altmannsdorf , Erlaa , Gersthof , Hadersdorf , Heiligenstadt , Hetzendorf , Hirschstetten , Kaiserebersdorf , Kalksburg , Lainz , Leopoldau , Meidling , Pötzleinsdorf , Siebenhirten , Stadlau and Stammersdorf Ort. The population decided against the abandonment with a clear majority.

The majority of Vienna's cemeteries are now managed by Friedhöfe Wien GmbH, a subsidiary of the city's own Wiener Stadtwerke , which was created in 2008 through the outsourcing of Municipal Department 43 of the city administration.

There are around 650,000 grave sites in Vienna's 46 municipal cemeteries; with the nine other cemeteries there are around 778,000 grave sites in Vienna.

Municipal cemeteries currently in use

Surname district Size
in m² 		Grave
sites 		Grave sites
per m² 		Dedicated
graves 1) 		Opened
Oberlaa cemetery 10th, favorites 33,737 4,679 0.14 1 1833
Simmering fire hall 11th, Simmering 215.383 46.279 0.21 72 1922
Kaiserebersdorfer Friedhof 11th, Simmering 12,060 1,135 0.09 2
Simmering cemetery 11th, Simmering 56,955 7,994 0.14 4th
Vienna Central Cemetery 11th, Simmering 2,500,000 330,000 0.13 969 1874
Altmannsdorf cemetery 12. Meidling 3,807 583 0.15 - 1784
Hetzendorfer cemetery 12. Meidling 7,583 1,100 0.15 2 1784
Meidlinger Friedhof 12. Meidling 129,811 18,095 0.14 42 1862
Southwest Cemetery 12. Meidling 241,828 25,671 0.11 6th 1921
Hietzinger cemetery 13th, Hietzing 97.175 11.207 0.12 111 1787
Lainzer cemetery 13th, Hietzing 7,248 993 0.14 3 1876
Ober-St.-Veiter cemetery 13th, Hietzing 35,886 4,655 0.13 14th 1876
Baumgartner cemetery 14., Penzing 236,362 33,339 0.14 23 1874
Hadersdorf-Weidlingau cemetery 14., Penzing 12,868 1,884 0.15 6th 1875
Hütteldorfer Friedhof 14., Penzing 49,510 4,652 0.09 9 1811
Ottakring cemetery 16., Ottakring 173.461 27,552 0.16 44
Dornbacher cemetery 17th, Hernals 44,047 4,778 0.11 19th 1883
Hernalser Friedhof 17th, Hernals 161.019 21,864 0.14 29 1872
Gersthof cemetery 18th, Währing 31,714 4,590 0.14 7th 1880
Neustift cemetery 18th, Währing 150.851 14,835 0.10 40 1880
Pötzleinsdorfer Friedhof 18th, Währing 5,544 725 0.13 7th 1785
Dobling cemetery 19., Dobling 49,981 6,853 0.14 67 1885
Grinzing cemetery 19., Dobling 45,265 5,095 0.11 48 1830
Heiligenstadt cemetery 19., Dobling 20,315 2,655 0.13 10 1873
Sieveringen cemetery 19., Dobling 37,152 5,299 0.14 9 1885
Groß-Jedlersdorfer Friedhof 21., Floridsdorf 58,138 6,898 0.12 2 1885
Every graveyard 21., Floridsdorf 55.994 8,448 0.15 2 1873
Stammersdorf-Ort cemetery 21., Floridsdorf 8,217 984 0.12 3 1833
Stammersdorfer central cemetery 21., Floridsdorf 192.970 23,034 0.12 5 1903
Leopoldauer Friedhof 21., Floridsdorf 4,949 964 0.19 1
Strebersdorf cemetery 21., Floridsdorf 31,722 1,387 0.04 - 1878
Aspern cemetery 22., Donaustadt 89,564 6.217 0.07 - 1892
Breitenleer cemetery 22., Donaustadt 11,987 1,141 0.10 - 1909
Esslingen cemetery 22., Donaustadt 22,649 1,792 0.08 -
Hirschstetten cemetery 22., Donaustadt 5,959 755 0.13 1 1872
Kagran cemetery 22., Donaustadt 55,781 8,175 0.15 3 1887
Stadlau cemetery 22., Donaustadt 14,788 2,399 0.16 - 1875
Süßenbrunn cemetery 22., Donaustadt 5,053 409 0.08 - 1893
Atzgersdorf cemetery 23rd, Liesing 39,282 3,283 0.08 - 1825
Erlaaer Friedhof 23rd, Liesing 4,651 632 0.14 - 1869
Liesing cemetery 23rd, Liesing 47,272 4,305 0.09 7th 1784
Cemetery wall 23rd, Liesing 49,378 5,914 0.12 6th 1867
Rodaun Cemetery 23rd, Liesing 12,029 1,453 0.12 - 1783
Seven Shepherds Cemetery 23rd, Liesing 8,511 996 0.12 -
Inzersdorfer Friedhof 23rd, Liesing 95.056 11,426 0.12 1
Kalksburg cemetery 23rd, Liesing 7,658 810 0.11 4th 1892

1) Number of the City of Vienna dedicated graves

Denominational cemeteries currently in use

Cemeteries that are no longer occupied

Cemetery of the Nameless
Sankt Marxer Friedhof

Cemeteries turned into parks

Built-up cemetery areas

The former cemeteries around churches were largely built or sacrificed to the spacious design of the square. An example of this is the Virgil Chapel under Stephansplatz , a relic of the cemetery that surrounded St. Stephen's Cathedral for centuries. The chapel was rediscovered more than 200 years after it was abandoned and filled in in 1973 during underground construction work. Another example of a former cemetery that is no longer recognizable today and is covered by urban development is the Gumpendorf military cemetery .

Pet cemetery

Vienna's first and only animal cemetery opposite the main gate (Gate 2) of the central cemetery in Anton-Mayer-Gasse in Simmering

Vienna's first and only pet cemetery was opened in 2011. On 2,500 m² there are several hundred earth graves in various sizes and urn graves in circular burial fields. It is operated by the "Tierfriedhof Wien GmbH", which in turn is 70% owned by the municipality's Friedhöfe Wien GmbH . "Ebswien tierservice Ges.mbHNfg KG" and "Reiwag Gebäude- service GmbH" each hold 15%.

Special

Occasionally, the Viennese are attested to having a special relationship to death, because observers notice intense burial and cemetery rituals. In 1949, Trevor Howard (as Holly Martins) and Alida Valli (as Anna Schmidt) were shown at the end of the famous film " The Third Man " by Graham Greene and Carol Reed in a scene in the Central Cemetery. In 1969 Georg Kreisler and Topsy Küppers brought out the LP “Death, that must be a Viennese”. In 1975 Wolfgang Ambros described in his song Long Live the Central Cemetery a nightly celebration of the first hundred years of the cemetery, which opened in 1874. The German news magazine “ Der Spiegel ” dedicated a text to city trips to Vienna in 2007 under the title Danube City Vienna: A beautiful corpse , a topic that recurs regularly in the media.

literature

  • Werner T. Bauer: Wiener Friedhofsführer. Exact description of all burial sites together with a history of the Viennese burial system . Falter Verlag, Vienna 2004, ISBN 3-85439-335-0 .
  • Christopher Dietz: The famous graves of Vienna. Falco, Klimt, Kraus, Moser, Mozart, Qualtinger, Schiele, Schubert, Strauss and many more photos by Wolfgang Ilgner, Sigrid Riedl-Hoffmann and Frank Thinius. Perlen-Reihe , Vienna-Munich 2000, ISBN 3-85223-452-2 .
  • Heike Krause, Constance Litschauer, Christine Ranseder, Michaela Binder, Karl Großschmidt: buried on earth. Six forgotten Viennese cemeteries (Vienna Archaeological 10), Vienna 2013, ISBN 978-3-85161-111-3 .
  • Ludwig Varga: Friedhöfe in Meidling - History of the six cemeteries in the 12th district of Vienna , sheets of the Meidlinger Bezirksmuseum, Vienna 2017, issue 80.

Web links

Commons : Friedhöfe in Wien  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Friedhof am Stephansplatz ( Memento from July 28, 2004 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ^ Monthly magazine Datum , Vienna, No. 11/2010, p. 12
  3. ↑ site Port of Vienna
  4. ↑ * Michaela Binder: The military cemetery in Marchettigasse in Vienna - The living conditions of simple soldiers in the Theresian-Josephine army based on anthropological studies, Phoibos Verlag, Vienna, 2008, ISBN 978-3-85161-000-0
  5. ↑ Benedikt Mandl in: "Spiegel online", August 1, 2007