Virtual Vienna Net - Through Billie Ann's Eyes - Zentralfriedhof: All Saints' Day - November 1 and All Souls' Day

The Viennese jokingly claim that while their Zentralfriedhof (Central Cemetery) is only half the size of the Swiss capital Bern, it's twice as amusing. This claim is certainly true on November 1 and 2 when tens of thousands of Viennese decorate graves of their dearly departed, listen to the bands, and enjoy the brilliant fall foliage while newly arrived flocks of migrating rooks from Siberia dance in the wind above. This annual event, a national holiday, resembles more a mass family outing than a visit to the dead.

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Opened on All Saints' Day in 1874, Vienna's municipal Zentralfriedhof is Austria's largest cemetery and reflects the cosmopolitan nature of Viennese society. In addition to its large, mainly Catholic section which contains the grave monuments for musical greats like Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert, the Strauss's (both father and son and assorted others), even Mozart (whose corpse lies in an unmarked mass grave in St. Marx Cemetery), and numerous other Graves of Honor, there are separate sections for Austria's presidents, memorials for the dead of the 1848 March uprising, July 1927, February 1934, for both sides of WWI and WWII, and for its Protestant, Greek and Russian Orthodox, Muslim, and Jewish residents. It is indeed all-inclusive.

In center stage, rising from the center of the cemetery, is the Jugendstil-styled Dr. Karl Lueger Memorial Church, designed by Max Hegele who also designed the magnificent main gate. The large church interior is richly decorated with mosaic ornamentation as well as large stained glass windows. Attending service with its grand accompanying organ music is quite popular amongst visitors. Dr. Karl Lueger, the founder of the Christian Socialist party and former mayor of Vienna who died in 1910, is buried in the crypt chapel which is well worth visiting as is the balcony above overlooking the church interior.

Controversial from its inception as an inter-denominational cemetery, in this primarily Catholic country, city authorities had to have the cemetery consecrated at first light to avoid further trouble. Though the second largest cemetery in Europe, (3.1 square kilometers-there is a bus service inside the cemetery for 55 cents), space was a problem from the beginning thus preventing city planners from realizing their initial ambition to provide burial space to all its residents in one cemetery. (There are, at present, forty-six other cemeteries in Vienna.) Still, with the bones of three million now lying beneath its 330,000 monuments, Vienna's Zentralfriedhof is indeed a world of its own.

Across the street from the main gate (Tor 2), stands the crematorium. In spite of strong opposition, again from the Catholic Church which still condemns the practice, cremation was finally allowed in 1922 by the Social Democrat city council. To accommodate the many thousands of urns and memorial stones, the grounds of the 16th century Neugebaeude Schloss, the only Renaissance castle existing in Vienna, were chosen. (The author will be writing about the Neugebaeude Schloss for this website soon.)

An old Viennese proverb reflects a serious but upbeat view on the matter of death: In life, man pays for everything. Only death is free. While not free, the price of a tram ticket, (71 tram from Schwarzenbergplatz or U-3 to Simmering and then the 71 tram), provides visitors with a morning or afternoon's enjoyment that is uniquely Viennese throughout the year. But the accompanying festivities occurring on November 1 and 2 make that enjoyment extra special.

All Saints' Day is a Christian holy day observed by many Western churches on November 1 and by Eastern churches on the first Sunday after Pentecost. The day now honors all saints of the church, even those not known by name. All Souls' Day observed November 2 is a Roman Catholic day commemorating the faithful departed or those baptized Christians believed to be in purgatory.