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Text:
Billie Ann Lopez
Photos:
Billie Ann Lopez And Gerd Reinisch
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As
you pass through the gate of Vienna's St. Marx Cemetery in the Third
District in spring, it's possible a peacock* will greet you with a
gravelly squawk from its perch on a lichen-encrusted tombstone near
the entrance. The beauty of this most glorious of birds, along with
the enveloping perfume and color of blossoming lilacs, softens
somehow the annoyance of the roar coming from a nearby motorway. |
Each
spring, for about two weeks between mid-April and early May, nature
artfully arranges a profusion of white and lavender lilac blossoms
around the elegant but weathered tombstones in St. Marx Cemetery.
Complementing the lilacs are the stately columns of blooming red and
white chestnut trees lining the main path. Together, they provide a
most suitable setting for the abundance of stone angels adorning many
of the old tombstones
Opened
in 1784, St. Marx Cemetery is the only Biedermeier cemetery
surviving in Vienna today, containing 6,000 to 7,000 graves. Its
name, St. Marx, is another spelling for St. Mark, one of the four
evangelists. St. Marx Cemetery was one of five cemeteries established
outside the old city center by Emperor Josef II following his decree
ordering the closure of all the cemeteries lying within the city
walls, including the large cemetery (now Stephansplatz) that
surrounded Vienna's great St. Stephan's Cathedral.
Today,
St. Marx Cemetery is primarily known for being the final resting
place of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart who was buried there on 6 December
1791. Mozart's burial in a plain wooden coffin in an unmarked common
grave amongst fifteen to twenty other coffins cost eight Gulden and
56 Kreuzer. The dramatic scene in the film Amadeus of Mozart's
shrouded body being dumped from a reusable coffin was probably a
fiction. Most of Josef II's funerary reforms, including his decree
against the use of coffins to conserve wood, were rescinded within
four months of being enacted in 1784.
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Although
the exact location of Mozart's grave is no longer known, his skull
is reputedly in the Mozarteum in Salzburg. It seems that Jacob Hyrtl,
an engraver, acquired Mozart's skull from a gravedigger named
Radschopf. Jacob Hyrtl then passed the skull on to his brother Josef,
a prominent anatomist who gave it to the Mozarteum. (An example of
quirky Viennese humor suggests there were actually 12 or 13 Mozart
skulls, but only three of them originals!)
In
1859, a monument to Mozart carved by the sculptor Hanns Gasser was
set up in St. Marx Cemetery. This monument was transferred to the
Central Cemetery on the 100th anniversary of Mozart's death in 1891.
An angel and broken column were taken from unused graves in St. Marx
by a cemetery caretaker at the time to mark the site of the former
monument to Mozart. Elements of this later memorial were incorporated
into the design for the present Mozart memorial in St. Marx Cemetery
by sculptor Florian Josephu-Drouot in 1950. |
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St.
Marx and the other four cemeteries from this period were closed in
1874 when Vienna opened its massive Zentralfriedhof (Central
Cemetery). Following St. Marx's closure, the cemetery was more or
less forgotten, and because it was forgotten, its Biedermeier
character survived intact. The other four cemeteries weren't so
fortunate and were eventually turned into parks. Public interest in
the St. Marx Cemetery was rekindled in the 1930s when it was
restored. It was damaged during WWII and again restored. In recent
years, tour buses are becoming a common sight outside the gate,
particularly during the lilac season, as music enthusiasts from all
over the world seek out this site to pay homage to one of the world's
greatest composers.
For
cemetery buffs, a visit to St. Marx Cemetery between mid-April and
early May to see its wonderful Biedermeier angels and tombstones
surrounded by blossoming lilacs, flowering chestnut trees, and
wandering peacocks, is an experience to be treasured.
*In
April 2002, the author did not succeed in finding the peacocks.
Hopefully, they are still there though.
Where:
St. Marxer Friedhof, Leberstrasse 6-8 in the Third District. Easily
reached by the 71 Tram from Schwarzenbergplatz. Get off at
Landstrasser/Hauptstrasse stop and follow the signs. |
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By Gerd
Reinisch (please click on picture for larger view of photo)
Selected
Bibliography:
Bauer,
Werner T., Wiener Friedhofsfuehrer (Falter Verlag: Wien, 1988)
Davenport,
Marcia, Mozart (Charles Scribner's Sons: New York, 1932)
Funk,
Addie, Vienna's Musical Sites and Landmarks (Knoch's Information
Edition: Vienna, 1927)
Hoffman,
Paul, The Viennese (Anchor Books, Doubleday: New York, 1988.)
Holmes,
Edward, The Life of Mozart (The Folio Society: London, 1991)
Landon,
H. C. Robbins, Mozart and Vienna (Schirmer Books: New York, 1991)
Lehne,
Inge and Johnson, Lonnie, Vienna--The Past in the Present
(Oesterreichischer Bundesverlag: Wien, 1985)
Pleyel,
Peter, Friedhoefe in Wien (Pichler: Wien, 1999) |
