| Vienna Central Cemetery | |
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_-_Luegerkirche_(1).JPG) TheSt. Charles Borromeo Cemetery Church in the middle of the Vienna Central Cemetery | |
 Interactive map of Vienna Central Cemetery | |
| Details | |
| Established | 1863 |
| Location | Simmering, Vienna, Austria |
| Country | Austria |
| Coordinates | 48°09′09″N16°26′24″E / 48.15250°N 16.44000°E /48.15250; 16.44000 |
| Type | Public |
| Size | 2.4 square kilometres (590 acres) |
| No. of graves | Over 330,000 graves |
| No. of interments | 3 million |
TheVienna Central Cemetery (German:Wiener Zentralfriedhof) is one of the largestcemeteries in the world by number of interred, and is the most well-known amongVienna's nearly 50 cemeteries. The cemetery's name is descriptive of its significance as Vienna's biggest cemetery, not of its geographic location, as it is not in the city center of theAustrian capital, but on the southern outskirts, in the outer city district ofSimmering.
Unlike many others, the Vienna Central Cemetery is not one that has evolved slowly. The decision to establish a new, big cemetery for Vienna came in 1863 when it became clear that – due to industrialization – the city's population would eventually increase to such an extent that the existing communal cemeteries would prove to be insufficient. City leaders expected that Vienna, then capital of the largeAustro-Hungarian Empire, would grow to four million inhabitants by the end of the 20th century, as no one foresaw the Empire's collapse in 1918. The city council therefore assigned an area significantly outside of the city's borders and of such large dimension, that it would suffice for a long time to come. They decided in 1869 that a flat area in Simmering should be the site of the future Central Cemetery. The cemetery was designed in 1870; according to the plans of the Frankfurt landscape architects Karl Jonas Mylius andAlfred Friedrich Bluntschli who were awarded for their projectper angusta ad augusta (from dire to sublime).[1]
The cemetery was opened onAll Saints' Day in 1874. However theconsecration of the cemetery was not without controversy: theinterdenominational character of the new cemetery – the different faith groups being interred on the same ground – met with fierce resistance, especially inconservative circles of theRoman Catholic Church.[2]
This argument became even more aggressive when the city announced that it did not want an officialCatholic opening of the new cemetery – but gave a substantial amount of money toward the construction of a segregatedJewish section. In the end, the groups reached an agreement resulting in the Catholic representatives opening the Central Cemetery with a small ceremony. Due to refraining from having a large public showing, the new cemetery was inaugurated almost unnoticed in the early morning of 31 October 1874 by Vienna MayorBaron Cajetan von Felder and CardinalJoseph Othmar Rauscher to avoid an escalation of the public controversy. The official opening of the Central Cemetery occurred the following day. The first burial was that of Jacob Zelzer, followed by 15 others that day. The grave of Jacob Zelzer still exists near the administration building at the cemetery wall.[3]
The cemetery spans 2.5 km2 (620 acres) with 330,000 gravesites containing around 3 million deceased, and up to 25 burials daily. It is also the second largest cemetery, after the 4 km2 (990 acres) ofHamburg'sOhlsdorf Cemetery, which is the largest in Europe by land area.[4]
AViennese joke has it that the Central Cemetery is "half the size ofZürich, but twice as much fun", (German:Halb so groß wie Zürich – aber doppelt so lustig ist der Wiener Zentralfriedhof!).[5]
Opposite the cemetery's main gate, across Simmeringer Hauptstrasse, is theFeuerhalle Simmering, Vienna's firstcrematorium, which was built byClemens Holzmeister in 1922 in the style of an oriental fortress.[6]
St. Charles Borromeo Cemetery Church is the central church of the cemetery. It used to be calledDr.Karl-Lueger-Gedächtniskirche (Karl Lueger Memorial Church) because of the crypt of the former mayor of Vienna below the high altar. This church inArt Nouveau style was built in 1908–1910 by Max Hegele. The crypt ofAustrian presidents is situated in front of the church. The burialvault is located beneath thesarcophagus, with stairs leading down to a circular room whose walls are lined withniches where urns or coffins can be interred.
On 1 November 2023, unidentified vandals set a fire and sprayedswastikas on external walls overnight in the cemetery's Jewish section. The entrance lobby to a ceremonial hall was burned for the first time since the 1938Kristallnacht pogrom by theNazis, but there were no injuries. The attack was condemned by Austrian ChancellorKarl Nehammer.[7][8][9]
In its early incarnations, the cemetery was unpopular because of its distance from the city centre. This forced authorities to think of ways to make it more attractive: Hence honorary graves (German:Ehrengrab) as a way of attracting tourists were established.
Interred in the Central Cemetery are notables such asLudwig van Beethoven andFranz Schubert, who were moved to the Central Cemetery from "Währinger Ostfriedhof" in 1888;Johannes Brahms;Antonio Salieri;Johann Strauss II andArnold Schoenberg. Acenotaph honoursWolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who is buried in nearbySt. Marx Cemetery.
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In addition to theCatholic section, the cemetery houses aProtestant cemetery (opened 1904) and twoJewish cemeteries.
Although the older of the two, established in 1863, was destroyed by theNazis during theKristallnacht, around 60,000 graves remain intact. Cemetery records indicate 79,833 Jewish burials as of 10 July 2011. Prominent burials here include those of theRothschild family and that of the authorArthur Schnitzler. The secondJewish cemetery was built in 1917 and is still in use today. There were 58,804 Jewish burials in the new section as of 21 November 2007.[10] Officials discovered the desecration of 43 Jewish graves in the two Jewish sections on 29 June 2012, allegedly as an anti-Semitic act – the stones and slabs were toppled or damaged.[11]
Since 1876,Muslims have been buried at Vienna's Zentralfriedhof. The dead are buried according to Austrian law, in acoffin, in contrast to the Islamic ritual practice: burial in ashroud. The opening of the new Islamic cemetery of the Islamic Faith Community took place on 3 October 2008 inLiesing.
The cemetery also containsRussian Orthodox burial grounds (Saint Lazarus chapel, 1894) and plots dedicated for the use of variousEastern Orthodox churches. Since 1869, members of theGreek Orthodox community have been buried in Section 30 A, just west of Gate 2, near the arcades. TheRomanian Orthodox community is near Gate 3 in Section 38 as are members of theBulgarian Orthodox churches. TheSerbian Orthodox community received portions of Sections 68 B and 69 C, near Gate 3. Section 27 A contains the tombs of theCoptic Orthodox Church.[12]
TheProtestant section on the east side is dedicated for the use of both confessions-parts of the Evangelical Protestant church in Austria, theLutheranA.B (Evangelische Kirche Augsburger Bekenntnis) andCalvinistH.B (Evangelische Kirche Helvetisches Bekenntnis). The cemetery was inaugurated in the presence of the President of the Evangelical Protestant Church, Dr. Rudolf Franz on 14 November 1904. The cemetery was expanded in 1926, 1972 and 1998. The Protestant section consists of 6,000 graves and 300 family vaults. There is a 300-seat church namedHeilandskirche on the cemetery ground which serves the purpose of a cemetery chapel. The church was consecrated by Pastor Rudolf Morally. Thereredos and the altar on the apse of the church is ornamented with acrucifix by sculptor Josef Grünhut.[13][14]
In 2000, aBaby burial ground opened in Section 35 B near Gate 3 wherestillborn infants, dead babies, and young children up to 110 centimetres (43 in) of height are interred.[15]
Europe's firstBuddhist cemetery was established in the Vienna Central Cemetery in May 2005. An area of the Central Cemetery has been set aside for this purpose centered around astupa, and wasconsecrated by aTibetan monk.[16]
The newAnatomy Memorial opened in Section 26, on 5 March 2009, for interments of the Institute ofAnatomy of theMedical University of Vienna and for the people who donated their bodies to science.[17]
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Austria celebrated the dedication of a hectare-sized plot set apart for theMormon deceased in the Vienna Central Cemetery, on 19 September 2009.[18]
Private car traffic is allowed on the cemetery grounds every day of the year except 1 November (All Saint's Day), although vehicles must pay atoll. Because of the large number of visitors on 1 November, private vehicles are not permitted. A public "cemetery bus" line (Route 106) operates on the grounds with several stops. The old Simmering horse tram was replaced by an electric tram, running fromSchwarzenbergplatz to the Central Cemetery, in 1901 and it was renumbered as "71"(der 71er) in 1907; it remains the most popular route to the cemetery by public transport. The "Zentralfriedhof" stop on theVienna S-Bahn (metro suburban railway) is close to the old Jewish part of the cemetery. The closest underground stop is "Simmering" (Vienna U-Bahn, line U3), about 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) from the cemetery.
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The cemetery is the scene of Harry Lime's fake and real funeral at the beginning and end ofThe Third Man.[19] The musicianWolfgang Ambros credited the cemetery in his 1975 song "Es lebe der Zentralfriedhof" ("Long live the Central Cemetery"), marking with it the 100th anniversary of its opening.
And less than 20% of the predominantly Catholic Viennese choose cremation, the rest hoping for a schöne Leiche (dialect: a schene Leich', a beautiful corpse).
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