Augarten
Encyclopedia
Leopoldstadt
Leopoldstadt is the 2nd municipal District of Vienna . There are inhabitants over . It is situated in the heart of the city and, together with Brigittenau , forms a large island surrounded by the Danube Canal and, to the north, the Danube. It is named after Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor...
, the second district of Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
. It contains the oldest Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
gardens of the city.
To the north, the Augarten borders on the Northern Railway line while to the south it faces the so-called Karmeliterviertel ("Carmelite quarter" (de)). To the northwest and northeast of the park, its wall marks the boundary to the 20th district of Vienna, Brigittenau
Brigittenau
Brigittenau is the 20th District of Vienna . It is located north of the central districts, north of Leopoldstadt on the same island area between the Danube and the Danube Canal...
.
The park is designed in the French Baroque style with an elaborate flower garden
Flower garden
A flower garden is any garden where flowers are grown for decorative purposes. Because flowers bloom at varying times of the year, and some plants are annual, dying each winter, the design of flower gardens can take into consideration to maintain a sequence of bloom and even of consistent color...
landscape and vast, shady avenues of chestnut, lime, ash, and maple trees. As is the case with most federal parks and gardens in Vienna, access to the Augarten is limited to daytime activities as its five gates close at sundown (signaled by a siren).
The Augarten hosts a variety of facilities such as the Wiener Sängerknaben (the Vienna Boys' Choir
Vienna Boys' Choir
The Vienna Boys' Choir is a choir of trebles and altos based in Vienna. It is one of the best known boys' choirs in the world. The boys are selected mainly from Austria, but also from many other countries....
) in the Palais Augarten
Palais Augarten
Palais Augarten is a Baroque palace in the district of Leopoldstadt, Vienna, Austria. Despite extensive damage suffered during World War II, the palace has been maintained almost in its original appearance, and many of the original furnishings can still be found there.The Palais Augarten is the...
, the Augarten Porzellanmanufaktur ("Augarten Porcelain Factory
Augarten porcelain
----The Porzellanmanufaktur Augarten is named after the palais and park where it is located in Leopoldstadt, Vienna, Austria....
"), Augarten Contemporary (part of the Österreichische Gallerie Belvedere, the Austrian Gallery housed in the Belvedere
Belvedere (palace)
The Belvedere is a historical building complex in Vienna, Austria, consisting of two Baroque palaces the Upper and Lower Belvedere, the Orangery, and the Palace Stables. The buildings are set in a Baroque park landscape in the 3rd district of the city, south-east of its centre. It houses the...
), the Filmarchiv Austria
Filmarchiv Austria
The Filmarchiv Austria is an organisation for the discovery, reconstruction and preservation of Austrian film record material: films themselves, literature about film and cinema, or film-related periodicals...
, a retirement home, a Jewish campus, a children's pool, and sports fields.
There are also two places to eat in the park, the Bunkerei (partially housed in an old bunker) and those belonging to the Filmarchiv, as well as two catered establishments, one of which is in the Atelier Augarten.
The Baroque park, the palace, and the remaining part of the original wall of the Augarten, dating from the early 18th century, have been listed since 2000.
History
In 1614, Emperor Matthias had a small hunting lodge built in what was then called the Wolfsau, at the time a flood plain ("Au" is an Austrian and southern German term for a riparian forest or flood plain). Around 1650, Ferdinand IIIFerdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor
Ferdinand III was Holy Roman Emperor from 15 February 1637 until his death, as well as King of Hungary and Croatia, King of Bohemia and Archduke of Austria.-Life:...
bought up the area around the nearby Tabor, an initial outpost before the final approach to Vienna's city walls. He established a formal Dutch garden and expanded the hunting lodge to a small mansion
Mansion
A mansion is a very large dwelling house. U.S. real estate brokers define a mansion as a dwelling of over . A traditional European mansion was defined as a house which contained a ballroom and tens of bedrooms...
. In the 1660s, Leopold I
Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor
| style="float:right;" | Leopold I was a Holy Roman Emperor, King of Hungary and King of Bohemia. A member of the Habsburg family, he was the second son of Emperor Ferdinand III and his first wife, Maria Anna of Spain. His maternal grandparents were Philip III of Spain and Margaret of Austria...
acquired the adjacent gardens from the noble Trautson family and created an all-encompassing baroque pleasure park. In 1677 he converted the Trautsons' garden mansion into a small palace
Palace
A palace is a grand residence, especially a royal residence or the home of a head of state or some other high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word itself is derived from the Latin name Palātium, for Palatine Hill, one of the seven hills in Rome. In many parts of Europe, the...
(a so-called Lustschloss), to which he gave the name "Imperial Favorita". Later on the name "Old Favorita" established itself in its stead.
1683 was a bad year for Vienna and the Augarten: during the course of the Turkish siege the grounds and buildings were destroyed in their entirety, with only parts of the walls remaining. Not until 1705 were the gardens and the palace restored under Emperor Joseph I. The garden palais built at this time is now the headquarters of the [Augarten Porzellanmanufaktur] (Augarten Porcelain Manufacturer), the second oldest porcelain manufacturer in Europe. A few years later, in the year 1712, the new regent Charles VI
Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles VI was the penultimate Habsburg sovereign of the Habsburg Empire. He succeeded his elder brother, Joseph I, as Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia , Hungary and Croatia , Archduke of Austria, etc., in 1711...
instructed the landscape architect Jean Trehet, the creator of the gardens of Schönbrunn
Schönbrunn
Schönbrunn may refer to:*Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, Austria*Schönbrunn , a municipality in Rhein-Neckar , Baden-Württemberg, Germany*Schönbrunn , a village in the Fichtelgebirge mountains in Bavaria, Germany...
and the Belvedere
Belvedere (palace)
The Belvedere is a historical building complex in Vienna, Austria, consisting of two Baroque palaces the Upper and Lower Belvedere, the Orangery, and the Palace Stables. The buildings are set in a Baroque park landscape in the 3rd district of the city, south-east of its centre. It houses the...
, to realize new plans for a more complex park and gardens in the French style. Today's Augarten is largely based in form on this incarnation
After the opening of the Vienna Prater
Prater
The Wiener Prater is a large public park in Vienna's 2nd district . The amusement park, often simply called "Prater", stands in one corner of the Wiener Prater and includes the .-Name:...
to the public in the year 1766, the Augarten was also opened on the 1st of May, 1775, by Joseph II
Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor
Joseph II was Holy Roman Emperor from 1765 to 1790 and ruler of the Habsburg lands from 1780 to 1790. He was the eldest son of Empress Maria Theresa and her husband, Francis I...
. On this occasion nightingales were released and the hunting of them made an offense. The entrance at that time was still guarded by the military, while inside the park invalids and handicapped people maintained order. The inscription Allen Menschen gewidmeter Erlustigungs-Ort von Ihrem Schaetzer ("A place of amusement dedicated to all people by their Cherisher") can still be read at the main gate to the Augarten which leads to the Augarten Palace. In order to meet the expectations of this credo, dining and dance halls, refreshment and billiard rooms were established as well, for which the traiteur Ignaz Jahn was responsible.
During the disastrous flooding which afflicted Vienna from February 1 to March 1 of 1830, the entire Augarten was flooded to a height of 1.75 meters (roughly 5.7 feet). Two memorial plaques, one of them on the inner side of the main portal and one at the gate by Castellezgasse, serve as reminders of this event. With the regulation of the Danube
Vienna Danube regulation
The Vienna Danube regulation refers to estensive flood-control engineering along the Danube river in Vienna, Austria during the last 150 years. The first major dams or levees were built during 1870-75. Another major project was constructed during 1972-88, which created the New Danube and Danube...
from 1860 to 1870, the Augarten was separated from the river forever. The former riparian forest and plain thus became a cultural landscape no longer threatened by periodic floods.
Between 1934 and 1936, the then Federal Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg
Kurt Schuschnigg
Kurt Alois Josef Johann Schuschnigg was Chancellor of the First Austrian Republic, following the assassination of his predecessor, Dr. Engelbert Dollfuss, in July 1934, until Germany’s invasion of Austria, , in March 1938...
lived at the Palais Augarten. Toward the end of WWII war strategists selected the strategically placed Augarten as a site for the construction of several massive flak tower
Flak tower
Flak towers were 8 complexes of large, above-ground, anti-aircraft gun blockhouse towers constructed in the cities of Berlin , Hamburg , and Vienna from 1940 onwards....
s to protect the city center from Allied air raids. In the summer of 1944 the construction of one battle tower with a height of 55 meters (roughly 180 feet) and a leader tower with a height of 51 meters (roughly 167 feet) was begun, their bizarre appearance in the middle of the park having since become an integrate part of the Augarten. The construction associated with the building of the towers (16 lines of rail track, large barracks for construction workers, etc.) took a serious toll on the landscaping of the park. Also during the war hundreds of cubic meters of rubble were dumped on the site while armored vehicles criss-crossed the garden and supposed mass graves were dug in which hundreds of war victims were buried. However, except for the virtually indestructible flak towers and the bunker (in which a restaurant is housed) nothing from this period remains.
Cultural significance
As early as 1772, so-called Morgenkonzerte ("morning concerts") were conducted or played by Wolfgang Amadeus MozartWolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
. These took place in the Garden Hall of the Palais Augarten, but the house was also used for many other festivals and concerts. The morning concerts were for a time conducted exclusively by Mozart himself, then alternated between different conductors until 1795 when the management of the concerts was transferred to the famous violinist Ignaz Schuppanzigh
Ignaz Schuppanzigh
Ignaz Schuppanzigh November 20, 1776 – March 2, 1830, was a violinist, friend and teacher of Beethoven, and leader of Count Razumovsky's private string quartet. Schuppanzigh and his quartet premiered many of Beethoven's string quartets, and in particular, the late string quartets. The Razumovsky...
. Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
also had several of his works performed under the direction of Schuppanzigh.
In the years 1820 to 1847, the 1st of May concerts also took place in the Garden Hall, where mainly works by Johann Strauss (father) were presented. Works by Franz Schubert
Franz Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer.Although he died at an early age, Schubert was tremendously prolific. He wrote some 600 Lieder, nine symphonies , liturgical music, operas, some incidental music, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music...
were also performed here. He gave concerts there as early as the late 18th century and his music served the amusement of the people for the celebrations both during and after the Congress of Vienna
Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna was a conference of ambassadors of European states chaired by Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, and held in Vienna from September, 1814 to June, 1815. The objective of the Congress was to settle the many issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars,...
.
Since 1998, the meadow in front of the battle tower is home (in the summer months of July and August) to an open-air cinema by the name of "Kino Unter den Sternen" ("Cinema Beneath the Stars").
Facilities in the Augarten
Since 1948, the Wiener Sängerknaben (Vienna Boys' ChoirVienna Boys' Choir
The Vienna Boys' Choir is a choir of trebles and altos based in Vienna. It is one of the best known boys' choirs in the world. The boys are selected mainly from Austria, but also from many other countries....
) have been headquartered at the Palais Augarten
Palais Augarten
Palais Augarten is a Baroque palace in the district of Leopoldstadt, Vienna, Austria. Despite extensive damage suffered during World War II, the palace has been maintained almost in its original appearance, and many of the original furnishings can still be found there.The Palais Augarten is the...
. In addition to a boarding school exclusive to the singers there are also a kindergarten and a private elementary school which are open to musically inclined children of both sexes. The administration is currently planning the construction of a concert hall in the Augarten, which was a topic of heated debate until summer of 2008 as the new building saw the demolition of the baroque "Gesindehaus" (part of the former servants' quarters) at the corner of the park. After protests, a new design has been created to accommodate the building with the concert hall being moved a few meters away.
The Augarten Porzellanmanufaktur (Augarten Porcelain Manufacturer) has its headquarters in the former Garden Hall of the Augarten. The production facility remains here as well. Augarten was the premium brand of Viennese porcelain, nearly as famous as the world-renowned Goldscheider ceramics manufactory which was managed by the Goldscheider family.
The studio of the artist Gustinus Ambrosi was established in 1995 inside the formal English garden. In addition to a large sculpture garden there is also the Gustinus Ambrosi Museum, dedicated to the artists’ work. The former house and studio are known today as the Augarten Contemporary, a branch of the Österreichische Gallerie Belvedere.
Since 1997, the Filmarchiv Austria
Filmarchiv Austria
The Filmarchiv Austria is an organisation for the discovery, reconstruction and preservation of Austrian film record material: films themselves, literature about film and cinema, or film-related periodicals...
has been housed in revitalized buildings previously designated as the cooks’ quarters, stables, and general side buildings and outhouses.
The Haus Augarten, a senior citizens home, opened in the grounds of the park in 1975. Directly next to it is the Café Haus Augarten.
The Lauder Chabad campus, constructed in 1998, houses a pre-school, a kindergarten, a primary and middle schools, and a nursery. In addition, the campus has its own teaching academy and a synagogue.
Further facilities include:
- Gen III FlakFlak towerFlak towers were 8 complexes of large, above-ground, anti-aircraft gun blockhouse towers constructed in the cities of Berlin , Hamburg , and Vienna from 1940 onwards....
and Leader Towers.
- Four sports fields, used particularly by students intensively used, especially since many schools do not have their own sports facilities.
- A family swimming pool, the use of which is free to children and adolescents under the age of 15, and to which adults may only gain access as chaperones or parents (€2).
- A small church, the parish of Mother of God.
- Numerous playgrounds.
- A football cage.
- Several free table tennis tables.
- Two zones for dogs.
- Several reserve gardens for the raising of plants needed for garden design and maintenance.