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The ICCM Journal | Autumn 2020 | V88 No. 3
oh Vienna! On a trip to explore Vienna’s glorious Christmas markets I discovered one of the largest cemeteries in Europe, Central Cemetery, completely by accident. Having a few drinks with my friends we got chatting to a German tourist whose passion happened to be visiting cemeteries! What are the chances? – it had to be fate! His enthusiasm was infectious and by the end of the evening he had managed to persuade all my friends to add it to our itinerary. I, obviously, didn’t need any convincing that the MUST do activity on any holiday is to visit a cemetery!
for visitors. Many famous and deserving people who had died before the cemetery was built and were interred in other cemeteries in Vienna were transferred here.
So, whilst the iron was still hot – strike I did. We set off with a city map and bus tickets in the direction of the outskirts of the city towards a district called Simmering. When Vienna grew into a city of more than one million inhabitants, the old cemeteries of the various districts became too small. To accommodate the growing capital, the Central Cemetery, with an area of over 600 acres, was opened in 1874. The first individual funeral to take place was for Jakob Zelzer. The grave still stands today.
Honorary graves are an integral part of Vienna's cultural history. They represent a significant honour which can be bestowed by the City of Vienna on public figures after their death. Today, around 1,000 honorary Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart graves can be found in the honorary grave lot and in other lots designated as honorary graves.
The Vienna Central Cemetery has over 330, 000 graves and 3 million deceased buried there. It is one of Europe’s largest cemeteries and is interdenominational. Alongside Catholic graves of the main interdenominational section, the extensive grounds also house a Protestant cemetery, the new and old Jewish cemetery, an Family Mausolea in Jewish section Islamic section, a Syriac Orthodox section, a Muslim Egyptian section, a Coptic Orthodox section, a Greek Orthodox section, a Russian Orthodox section, a Romanian Orthodox section, a Serbian Orthodox section and burial plots for those who have donated their bodies to anatomical research. The size of the cemetery is overwhelming and truly impressive. There are several different entrances to the site and a little research should be carried out before visiting as well as a good pair of walking shoes! In the first decades following its opening, Vienna Central Cemetery was not very popular in view of its distance from the city and wide open, barren spaces that prevailed at that time. However, with the construction of the honorary grave area, the cemetery soon turned into an attractive destination
The cemetery has been enlarged a total of seven times, most recently in 1921. Vienna Central Cemetery suffered considerable bomb damage from air raids conducted during the Second World War. 12,000 graves and hundreds of crypts were completely destroyed. Every building was damaged. The church's dome was obliterated by an incendiary bomb. Following extensive restoration work, Vienna Central Cemetery has since assumed the position of the most important burial site in Vienna and presents itself as a cemetery for every religion. The people buried there come from all walks of public life in Vienna up until the very recent past. They achieved renown in the areas of music, poetry, science, architecture, painting, invention, acting, politics or sport. Politicians who played a key role in shaping the fortunes of Austria are also buried in honorary graves. The presidential crypt in front of the Art Nouveau church is the final resting place of every Austrian federal president since 1945.
