Karlskirche and the Zentralfriedhof

Thursday, August 5

Today was a nice and calm day compared to yesterday!  While yesterday was the day of churches and it seamed that we visited every church in Vienna, today only had two destinations.  

The first was the amazing Karlskirsche (Church of St. Charles of Borromeo.)  This church was built between 1716 and 1739 by Emperor Karl VI after the plague of 1713 in which 10,000 people died.  After the plague left Vienna, he vowed to build this church in dedication to St. Charles of Borromeo who had aided plague victims in Italy and was a patron saint of the plague.  St. Charles was also the patron saint of Karl VI (Charles VI.)  It was built in the Baroque style but also incorporated clear Roman influences.  This influence was most evident on first sight.  The two large columns that rise up and frame the entrance of the church are based on Trajan’s Column in Rome.  The scenes carved into these two columns tell stories of St. Charles of Borromeo.  Incorporating the style of the Romans into the architecture of the church also was significant because it connects the Holy Roman Empire with the ancient Roman Empire.  This link between the two empires served the Habsburgs by visually conveying the power of the Roman empire with their contemporary empire.  It also was a tool to further legitimize the Austrian Empire as the rightful heir of the old Roman Empire.  

Once I walked into the church, I immediately understood why this is considered to be the greatest Baroque church in Vienna.  The height of the ceiling with its dome, frescoes, and natural light created an unmatched atmosphere.  The audio guide was really helpful with understanding the rich symbolism of the art.  I really enjoyed learning about how the church was used to emphasize the connections between church and state.  The artwork of the altar centered on the word God written in Hebrew with golden sunbeams streaming out from this central point.  On the left and right hand walls surrounding the altar is a carving of the emperors face.  This was used to demonstrate the presence of the emperor and his closeness to God further uniting God, Church, and King.  

Later, our professor took us to the Zentralfriedhof (Central Cemetery) in the Simmering neighborhood.  It was first opened in 1874.  It contains 2 1/2 million graves, which is more than the living population of Vienna.  It was built far outside of the city center for purposes of health and sanitation.  We entered at the second of three gates.  This gate leads to the Ehrengraber, which are the Tombs of Honor.  These graves include Vienna’s famous musicians such as Beethoven and the entire Strauss family, as well as many of the aristocrats who worked for the imperial government.  

Next we walked to the old Jewish section.  The graves here seem to embody the complicated issue of remembrance that Austria has with its history as part of Germany and the Nazi atrocities committed against the Jews in the Holocaust.  The Jewish graves represented a very large number of the graves in the cemetery but their graves were very unkept.  The markings on the grave stones were dissolving with time.  Ivy and other greenery were growing over and covering the stones.  Some of the the stones had even fallen apart and were in pieces over their respective graves.  

While the Jewish section of the cemetery was overgrown and mostly unkept, the Catholic side of the cemetery had been kept and was very well preserved.  Grand family tombs catch one’s eye immediately upon entering gate II.  Even the gates are much different in appearance.  The gate that leads to the Jewish section is a simple brick structure, while the gate that leads into the Catholic section is an ornate structure of white rising much higher than its Jewish counterpart.