Photos and the City

Category: Vienna

  • Friedhof Sankt Marx

    Let me take you to one of my favorite places in Vienna, the only still existing graveyard from the Biedermeier period in Europe: Cemetery St. Marx in Viennas third district. As soon as you enter the park you feel a certain kind of calmness and are at peace. It´s the perfect place to take a breath and give oneself a little time off, an isle of calm.

    friedhof st. marx, cemetery, vienna, biedermeier, calm, still, allerheiligen, peace, mozart friedhof st. marx, cemetery, vienna, biedermeier, calm, still, allerheiligen, peace, mozart

    The cemetery was opened as one of five “communal graveyards” in 1784 following a decree by Emperor Joseph II that forbade further burials in cemeteries within the outer walls of the city of Vienna. At this time todays third district “Landstraße” was still only a small suburb.

    Quite a few famous artist were buried at St. Marx, like architect Josef Kornhäusel, world traveller Ida Pfeiffer, floral artist  Franz Xaver Gruber, the composers Franz Xaver Süssmayr, Joseph Strauss, Anton Diabelli and in 1791 after a funeral at St. Stephens Cathedral Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

    friedhof st. marx, cemetery, vienna, biedermeier, calm, still, allerheiligen, peace, mozart

    Mozart was buried in a pauper´s grave, the exact location of his grave remained unknown for many years until 1855 when it is believed the grave was discovered. In 1859 Hanns Gasser built a monument there. This was later transferred to the group of honorary graves for musicians at Vienna´s Central Cemetery. A stone with Mozarts name was set on the empty space at St. Marx, later a “Mourning Genius”, a new stone tablet and a column were added.

    friedhof st. marx, cemetery, vienna, biedermeier, calm, still, allerheiligen, peace, mozart

    When Vienna´s Central Cemetery opened in 1874 all the “communal graveyards” were closed. In the following decades the graveyard was more or less untouched and left alone, trees and bushes started to overgrow the stones. In 1922 it was decided to convert the five communal graveyards to parks – but some fighted for the conservation of St. Marx and the cemetery became a listed building. After some renovations the park was opened for the public in 1937.

    friedhof st. marx, cemetery, vienna, biedermeier, calm, still, allerheiligen, peace, mozart friedhof st. marx, cemetery, vienna, biedermeier, calm, still, allerheiligen, peace, mozart friedhof st. marx, cemetery, vienna, biedermeier, calm, still, allerheiligen, peace, mozart

    Cemetery St. Marx has remained a public park until today – some years ago volunteers started again to renovate the gravestones and clear the area, it´s an ongoing project and I think they work very carefully and with lot of respect and love!

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  • Hochhaus Herrengasse

    It´s been some time since the Open House Wien weekend but there is still one building left: The Hochhaus Herrengasse! It´s a building I´ve known my whole life and probably dreamt about visiting it for most of the time. I wondered how it looked and how amazing the view must be.

    To be honest seen from Herrengasse it doesn´t look that spectacular and one wouldn´t see the real hight of it. To built a high-rise-buliding which doesn´t look like one may have been a typical austrian compromise. On its highest point there are 16 stories and it´s 52 metres high. Have a look at the mock-up:

    hochhaus, herrengasse, vienna, ohw14, open house

    Viennas very first high-rise-building was built in 1930/32 on the former area of the Palais Lichtenstein which had been demolished in 1913. Inside the Palais was the famous “Bösendorfer concert hall”, know for its amazing acoustics. The story goes people were crying and sobbing at last concert on May 2th 1913. Stefan Zweig even wrote about it in his memoirs:

    “Als die letzten Takte Beethovens verklangen, vom Rosé-Quartett herrlicher als jemals gespielt, verließ keiner seinen Platz. Wir lärmten und applaudierten, einige Frauen schluchzten vor Erregung, niemand wollte es wahrhaben, dass es ein Abschied war. Man verlöschte im Saal die Lichter, um uns zu verjagen. Keiner von den vier- oder fünfhundert der Fanatiker wich von seinem Platz.” Stefan Zweig “Die Welt von Gestern”

    World War I stopped the plans to built a hotel on this site, it remained a vacant lot until 1930. It not only was the first high-rise-building, it was also a first to design apartments for mostly singles from 20 square metres to 93 square metres.

    It was this urban and modern charm that attracted artists and free spirits to life there, like the actors Oscar Werner, Curd Jürgens, Paula Wessely or the german writer Daniel Kehlmann.

     

    hochhaus, herrengasse, vienna, ohw14, open house

    hochhaus, herrengasse, vienna, ohw14, open house

    hochhaus, herrengasse, vienna, ohw14, open house

    hochhaus, herrengasse, vienna, ohw14, open house
    I´d love to life in this tiny apartment filled with lovely vintage furniture and this amazing view!
    hochhaus, herrengasse, vienna, ohw14, open house
    St. Sephens
    hochhaus, herrengasse, vienna, ohw14, open house
    Hofburg
    hochhaus, herrengasse, vienna, ohw14, open house
    Rathaus

    hochhaus, herrengasse, vienna, ohw14, open house

    hochhaus, herrengasse, vienna, ohw14, open house

     

    Have a look at all these amazing historic pictures from Hochhaus Herrengasse! From the building site to the apartments!

  • Sunday at Burgtheater

    burgtheater, wien, vienna, theatre, ringstraße