Vienna Media News 10/2018 Photo gallery: cemeteries in Vienna
A very Viennese place
Vienna’s Zentralfriedhof (Central Cemetery) is the second largest burial ground in Europe (after Hamburg’s Ohlsdorf cemetery). Around three million people are laid to rest here in more than 330,000 plots. Dubbed an ‘aphrodisiac for necrophiles’ by the writer André Heller, it is a quintessentially Viennese place: the city’s residents not only come here to visit their loved ones’ final resting place – its huge grounds are also a popular destination for a stroll in their own right.
Central Cemetery, Simmeringer Hauptstrasse 234, 1110 Vienna, www.friedhoefewien.at
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Lonesome boulevards
At 2.5km², Vienna’s Central Cemetery, is almost the same size as the historic first district. It even has its own bus line with 22 stops dotted around the site. Horse-drawn carriage rides are available from April to October, with the famous graves, or Ehrengräber, part of the tour. Park benches and a café with terrace opened by Kurkonditorei Oberlaa opposite the Funeral Museum provide a perfect opportunity to relax. Pictured at the end of the boulevard: the cemetery church of Saint Charles Borromeo with its impressive Art Nouveau detailing.
You can also download a print-ready version of this image. Download here
Famous graves
The Waltz King Johann Strauss is not the only famous person with an Ehrengrab (literally: honorary grave) at Vienna’s Central Cemetery. The list of prominent figures from the worlds of culture, science and politics interred here is long, among the roughly 350 famous names are Franz Schubert, Antonio Salieri, Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, Arnold Schoenberg, Johann Nestroy, Franz Werfel, Joe Zawinul, Curd Jürgens, Hedy Lamarr, Maria Lassnig, Adolf Loos, Josef Hoffmann, Ludwig Boltzmann, Rosa Jochmann and Bruno Kreisky. While Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is honoured with a monument, he was actually buried elsewhere, at St. Marx Cemetery.
You can also download a print-ready version of this image. Download here
The old and new cemetery
There are two Jewish cemeteries at the Central Cemetery: one old (next to Gate 1) and one new (Gate 5). The older part was established in 1877 by the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde (Jewish Community). By 1916, the number of graves had reached 100,000. A fire during the 1938 November massacres destroyed the Ceremonial Hall, and the old Jewish cemetery sustained heavy bomb damage in the Second World War. Today, this area is an unusual natural refuge for animals that provides habitat for dear, rabbits and pheasants. When the original cemetery reached capacity the Kultusgemeinde acquired an additional plot next to Gate 5, which opened in 1917.
You can also download a print-ready version of this image. Download here
Morbid Museum
In Vienna, at a cemetery directly beneath a funeral hall, it is hard to think of a better place for this museum. The Funeral Museum at the Central Cemetery provides a comprehensive and interactive exhibition covering funerary traditions, burial rituals and the peculiarities of the Viennese population’s relationship with death from the end of the eighteenth century to the present day. A must see is the audio station with the best of funeral music, from Ave Maria to Time to say Goodbye. The museum shop offers various souvenirs including a t-shirt for fans of Vienna’s cemeteries and an elegantly designed coffin USB stick.
Funeral Museum at Central Cemetery, Tor 2 (Gate 2: main entrance), Simmeringer Hauptstrasse 234, 1110 Vienna, www.friedhoefewien.at
You can also download a print-ready version of this image. Download here
Cemetery on the Danube
The Cemetery of the Nameless is located on the city’s southeastern most fringes, at Alberner Hafen on the banks of the Danube. Suicide victims, people who had died in accidents and other nameless individuals who had met their end in the waters were returned to the earth at the cemetery until the middle of the twentieth century. On the first Sunday after All Saint’s Day, there is a service to remember all those who could not be rescued from the currents, when a raft containing a symbolic gravestone, flowers and lit candles is floated down the Danube.
Cemetery of the Nameless, Alberner Hafenzufahrtsstrasse, 1110 Vienna, www.friedhof-der-namenlosen.at
You can also download a print-ready version of this image. Download here
Beautiful views
Nussdorf Friedhof is one of six cemeteries in Vienna’s nineteenth district. It is located at the foot of the Nussberg hill, surrounded by vineyards. In fact, two vineyards were purchased to make way for its construction in 1867. A visit to this idyllic cemetery can be easily combined with a stroll through the winegrowing estates and the Vienna woods.
Nussdorf Cemetery, Nussberggasse 48, 1190 Vienna
You can also download a print-ready version of this image. Download here
Never forgotten
Vienna’s last surviving Biedermeier cemetery has a unique atmosphere. In 1791 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was buried at St. Marx Cemetery in an unmarked grave. The seemingly improvised monument to the great composer dates back to a later time and is positioned above the plot believed to contain his mortal remains.
St. Marx Cemetery, Leberstrasse 6-8, 1030 Vienna
You can also download a print-ready version of this image. Download here
Balmy air
Although the traffic hums all round St. Marx Cemetery, the idyllic overgrown site feels a million miles away from the city. In some cases dilapidated and covered with ivy, the graves, inscribed with messages for ‘Industrialists’, ‘Gentlemen of independent means’ or a ‘Goodly sewer worker’s spouse’, are places of pilgrimage for inveterate romantics. Special recommendation: a visit in spring when the countless lilac bushes flower white, pink and purple, filling the air with their sweet scent.
You can also download a print-ready version of this image. Download here
Imperial Burial Vault
The final resting place of the Habsburgs is the epitome of the Austrian penchant for pomp and morbidity: Emperor Ferdinand III designated the crypt beneath the Church of the Capuchin Friars in the old town as the Habsburgs’ official dynastic burial vault. Also known as the Kapuzinergruft, the Kaisergruft contains the remains of 150 people, some in lavish metal sarcophaguses and all members of the ruling family with one exception, Maria Theresa’s governess. The centre of the space is dominated by a double sarcophagus decorated with life-size figures which contains the remains of Baroque rulers, Maria Theresa and her husband Franz Stephan, Duke of Lorraine. Emperor Franz Joseph was interred next to Empress Sisi and Crown Prince Rudolf.
Imperial Burial Vault, Neuer Markt/Tegetthoffstrasse, 1010 Vienna, www.kapuzinergruft.com
You can also download a print-ready version of this image. Download here
A very Viennese place
Vienna’s Zentralfriedhof (Central Cemetery) is the second largest burial ground in Europe (after Hamburg’s Ohlsdorf cemetery). Around three million people are laid to rest here in more than 330,000 plots. Dubbed an ‘aphrodisiac for necrophiles’ by the writer André Heller, it is a quintessentially Viennese place: the city’s residents not only come here to visit their loved ones’ final resting place – its huge grounds are also a popular destination for a stroll in their own right.
Central Cemetery, Simmeringer Hauptstrasse 234, 1110 Vienna, www.friedhoefewien.at
You can also download a print-ready version of this image. Download here
Lonesome boulevards
At 2.5km², Vienna’s Central Cemetery, is almost the same size as the historic first district. It even has its own bus line with 22 stops dotted around the site. Horse-drawn carriage rides are available from April to October, with the famous graves, or Ehrengräber, part of the tour. Park benches and a café with terrace opened by Kurkonditorei Oberlaa opposite the Funeral Museum provide a perfect opportunity to relax. Pictured at the end of the boulevard: the cemetery church of Saint Charles Borromeo with its impressive Art Nouveau detailing.
You can also download a print-ready version of this image. Download here
Famous graves
The Waltz King Johann Strauss is not the only famous person with an Ehrengrab (literally: honorary grave) at Vienna’s Central Cemetery. The list of prominent figures from the worlds of culture, science and politics interred here is long, among the roughly 350 famous names are Franz Schubert, Antonio Salieri, Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, Arnold Schoenberg, Johann Nestroy, Franz Werfel, Joe Zawinul, Curd Jürgens, Hedy Lamarr, Maria Lassnig, Adolf Loos, Josef Hoffmann, Ludwig Boltzmann, Rosa Jochmann and Bruno Kreisky. While Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is honoured with a monument, he was actually buried elsewhere, at St. Marx Cemetery.
You can also download a print-ready version of this image. Download here
The old and new cemetery
There are two Jewish cemeteries at the Central Cemetery: one old (next to Gate 1) and one new (Gate 5). The older part was established in 1877 by the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde (Jewish Community). By 1916, the number of graves had reached 100,000. A fire during the 1938 November massacres destroyed the Ceremonial Hall, and the old Jewish cemetery sustained heavy bomb damage in the Second World War. Today, this area is an unusual natural refuge for animals that provides habitat for dear, rabbits and pheasants. When the original cemetery reached capacity the Kultusgemeinde acquired an additional plot next to Gate 5, which opened in 1917.
You can also download a print-ready version of this image. Download here
Morbid Museum
In Vienna, at a cemetery directly beneath a funeral hall, it is hard to think of a better place for this museum. The Funeral Museum at the Central Cemetery provides a comprehensive and interactive exhibition covering funerary traditions, burial rituals and the peculiarities of the Viennese population’s relationship with death from the end of the eighteenth century to the present day. A must see is the audio station with the best of funeral music, from Ave Maria to Time to say Goodbye. The museum shop offers various souvenirs including a t-shirt for fans of Vienna’s cemeteries and an elegantly designed coffin USB stick.
Funeral Museum at Central Cemetery, Tor 2 (Gate 2: main entrance), Simmeringer Hauptstrasse 234, 1110 Vienna, www.friedhoefewien.at
You can also download a print-ready version of this image. Download here
Cemetery on the Danube
The Cemetery of the Nameless is located on the city’s southeastern most fringes, at Alberner Hafen on the banks of the Danube. Suicide victims, people who had died in accidents and other nameless individuals who had met their end in the waters were returned to the earth at the cemetery until the middle of the twentieth century. On the first Sunday after All Saint’s Day, there is a service to remember all those who could not be rescued from the currents, when a raft containing a symbolic gravestone, flowers and lit candles is floated down the Danube.
Cemetery of the Nameless, Alberner Hafenzufahrtsstrasse, 1110 Vienna, www.friedhof-der-namenlosen.at
You can also download a print-ready version of this image. Download here
Beautiful views
Nussdorf Friedhof is one of six cemeteries in Vienna’s nineteenth district. It is located at the foot of the Nussberg hill, surrounded by vineyards. In fact, two vineyards were purchased to make way for its construction in 1867. A visit to this idyllic cemetery can be easily combined with a stroll through the winegrowing estates and the Vienna woods.
Nussdorf Cemetery, Nussberggasse 48, 1190 Vienna
You can also download a print-ready version of this image. Download here
Never forgotten
Vienna’s last surviving Biedermeier cemetery has a unique atmosphere. In 1791 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was buried at St. Marx Cemetery in an unmarked grave. The seemingly improvised monument to the great composer dates back to a later time and is positioned above the plot believed to contain his mortal remains.
St. Marx Cemetery, Leberstrasse 6-8, 1030 Vienna
You can also download a print-ready version of this image. Download here
Balmy air
Although the traffic hums all round St. Marx Cemetery, the idyllic overgrown site feels a million miles away from the city. In some cases dilapidated and covered with ivy, the graves, inscribed with messages for ‘Industrialists’, ‘Gentlemen of independent means’ or a ‘Goodly sewer worker’s spouse’, are places of pilgrimage for inveterate romantics. Special recommendation: a visit in spring when the countless lilac bushes flower white, pink and purple, filling the air with their sweet scent.
You can also download a print-ready version of this image. Download here
Imperial Burial Vault
The final resting place of the Habsburgs is the epitome of the Austrian penchant for pomp and morbidity: Emperor Ferdinand III designated the crypt beneath the Church of the Capuchin Friars in the old town as the Habsburgs’ official dynastic burial vault. Also known as the Kapuzinergruft, the Kaisergruft contains the remains of 150 people, some in lavish metal sarcophaguses and all members of the ruling family with one exception, Maria Theresa’s governess. The centre of the space is dominated by a double sarcophagus decorated with life-size figures which contains the remains of Baroque rulers, Maria Theresa and her husband Franz Stephan, Duke of Lorraine. Emperor Franz Joseph was interred next to Empress Sisi and Crown Prince Rudolf.
Imperial Burial Vault, Neuer Markt/Tegetthoffstrasse, 1010 Vienna, www.kapuzinergruft.com
You can also download a print-ready version of this image. Download here
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