Vienna Central Cemetery how to get there. Vienna Central Cemetery. Plan your visit

I have a strange hobby - to include visits to cemeteries in the program of my travels. I do this far from always and not in every city, but I certainly examine the large and famous necropolises, because, in my opinion, they are the same monuments of culture and architecture as other iconic places.

The Central Cemetery of Vienna was no exception: already by its name it is obvious that for the city it has a very importance. It is here that almost all the famous Austrians who left a deep mark on history are buried, and, in many ways, it is their names that still attract so many tourists to Vienna.

How to get there

Once the Central Cemetery was outside the city walls, but now it is surrounded on all sides by the residential areas of the Simmering district of Vienna, so getting here by public transport is very easy.

By the way, I also have a small life hack for those visitors who can’t or want to walk around the cemetery on foot for a short time. Throughout the territory, starting from the central gate, bus number 106 runs every half an hour and makes 19 stops along the way in the most interesting places for an ordinary tourist.

What to see

When I went here, I only roughly imagined what I could see there. My plan was finally formed at the huge scheme located at the entrance. And here are my tips for visiting this impressive sight in every sense:

Summary

I think that this place is definitely worth a visit for everyone interested in Austrian culture. Visit the houses of Schubert and Strauss in Vienna, and then come to look at their graves and pay tribute to their talent. Wander along the wide alleys and love life even more.

You are not the first time in Vienna, you are familiar with all the main attractions and do not know what to do with yourself? Tired of the Hofburg and Schönbrunn, the taste of coffee at Oberlaa and the sight of penguins at the zoo? Or maybe you are a fan of non-traditional routes? Then visit the Vienna Central Cemetery (Zentralfriedhof) - it's quite curious.

By the way, the name Central is completely unrelated to the location of the cemetery. You will first have to go to it by metro, and then by tram number 71: the cemetery is located in the 11th district. Gate 2 is considered the main entrance. The tram travels along the territory of the cemetery for a very long time, even making several stops. And this is not surprising, the Central Cemetery in Vienna is the second largest in Europe, only the Ohlsdorf cemetery in Hamburg is larger than it.

In Georgia, for example, it is customary for whole families to come to rest to Orthodox churches, walk along the alleys on their territory, admire the flowers, and it is customary for the Viennese to behave this way in the city cemetery. They generally have a very original attitude towards death: calm. By the way, the inhabitants of Vienna are surprised that they are accused of burying Mozart in a common grave. Well, it’s normal, a local resident will tell you, at that time they always did this, but what, something is wrong?

The cemetery is quite suitable for walking: wonderful shady alleys, many flowers, beautiful monuments are decorated here. On the territory of the cemetery there are more than three million graves - practically the city of the dead. It is quite possible to get lost here, so that this does not happen, there are boards with maps at some intersections, and sometimes a bus runs around the cemetery. Complete comfort! So Vienna is not without reason recognized as the most comfortable city on the planet.

Funerals are held here on a grand scale and pomp, musicians from popular orchestras are invited. Anyone can come up, listen and watch - in Vienna this is normal, no one will be surprised. It is customary here to present an epitaph on a birthday. It will be received with understanding and humor. If you like the epitaph, then it will be able to decorate the tombstone with itself. If death is inevitable, then it is worth treating it philosophically.

Here are the graves famous people the past and the present. The place in the cemetery is not yet occupied, so it is still active. Old interesting burials are located not far from the main alley, and if you carefully get acquainted with the map, then it will not be difficult to find them. By the way, if you ask at the local office located at the entrance, you can get a map of the cemetery printed on paper for free. And then it will be possible to easily find the grave of Strauss ... or Brahms ... or Beethoven ... or Schubert.

And you don't have to go far.

The cemetery is famous not only for the well-known names of the buried, but also for the beauty of the design of the tombstones. Most often there are sculptures of angels of various sizes and colors.

They froze over the graves, carefully hugging the medallions with epitaphs and names, or straightening the marble folds of the monuments.

But there are enough sculptures, and besides them, for the most part, they are very eloquent.

Some of them are still quite new, many are slightly covered with lichen and moss, and some have been here for more than a century, and they are partially covered by already dried ivy itself.

By the way, ivy is everywhere here, according to the best cemetery traditions.

Some of the sculptures are standard…

And some are so idiosyncratic that they evoke thoughts of originality. contemporary art.

Some crypts resemble fairy-tale castles and houses.

You should not think that only famous and ordinary foreigners found their last shelter in this cemetery. You can get acquainted with two Russian military sections. One small, marked by an obelisk with an eloquent inscription.

The second is much larger, here is the resting place of those who died during the Second World War.

Behind every grave, even unknown ones, there is careful care, as a tribute to the fallen.

And soldiers of stone guarding eternal rest.

The obelisk to those who died during the First World War is located in the far part of the Central Cemetery, and to those who died in the Second - on the central alley behind the large church.

After examining these historical monuments, you can slowly return, looking at the graves along the road and watching the flights of butterflies and bumblebees.

The location of the cemetery does not match its name. It is located in the southern part of the city, in the Simmering district, which is still being built up, and was originally located outside the city limits.

It remains the largest cemetery in Vienna and continues to play a central role as burial costs are significantly lower than in other cemeteries.

The Simmerling Main Street, an important thoroughfare of the district, leads directly to the Central Cemetery and thus makes a significant contribution to its accessibility.

Although the cemetery is located between busy streets and high-speed rail, it remains the only structure and vast area that is not affected by significant traffic noise. The only thing that harms the cemetery peace is the air corridor located above the Central Cemetery, which leads to the one located in southeastern Vienna.

Transport to the cemetery

The central cemetery, due to its size, has long roads. On all the main of them daily road traffic is carried out. The maximum allowed speed here is 20 km / h, which is provided for by the rules of the road. Only on November 1 (All Saints Cathedral) entry is not possible, since on this day there is a high risk of a major traffic jam. Persons with a certificate of disability have the right (since 2001) to come to the holiday in an organized manner.

Since 1971, a special bus has been used to deliver people who do not have their own car to the cemetery. It repeats its route every half an hour every day along the ring road passing through most of the cemetery, and only on the feast of all saints does it not run.

Every year, about 60,000 visitors use the transport provided by the private bus company Dr. Richard. Since November 2, 2004, the company has been receiving grants from the city of Vienna from 34 thousand euros per year, since it joined the transport organization East Region (Germ. Verkehrsverbund Ost-Region (VOR) ). To travel, the visitor needs to purchase a VOR ticket, in addition, you can pay on the spot.

The transport line of the cemetery was originally called 11 line(German Line 11), but with the introduction of the train, to avoid confusion in names with VOR line 11, the cemetery ring road was renamed to 106 line(German Line 106).

Tram number 71

The traditional tram number 71 runs from the square to the entrance to the Central Cemetery (in German). Straßenbahnline 71). It forms an integral part of numerous anecdotes or songs about the last journey of the inhabitants of Vienna. So, at the funeral you can hear the everyday: "He sat on the 71st" (German. Er hat den 71er genommen).

In 1901, the "Simmerling Horse Road" leading to the Central Cemetery was replaced by an electric tram, which since 1907 has had the line number "71". In 1918, for the first time, the 71st line was separated from the street road. At this time, there were frequent night transports with corpses for burial in the Central Cemetery, who died from the Spanish flu, and because of their large number of horses, there were often not enough. In 1942, the Vienna Tram acquired more than 3 of its own vehicles for transporting corpses. After the end of the war, this type of transportation of the dead was finally abandoned.

Today, 71st is also often used for transportation, as it serves as a direct access road to the Central Cemetery. Near the back entrance to the cemetery is the Vienna S-Bahn station, which is called Wien Zentralfriedhof, line S7. Visitors to the cemetery rarely use it. Line U3 of the Vienna Underground ends almost 2 km from the cemetery (extension was not previously planned), this "last meter" fills the 71st along with the tram route number 6, which reaches the third gate since 2000. By the feast of all saints, when 300,000 visitors begin to storm the Central Cemetery, traffic intervals on 71 lines are greatly reduced. On this day, the message, until the opening of the Simmerling metro station in 2000, was called the 35th line of the feast of all saints (in German. Allerheiligen line 35).

Presidential Crypt and State Burials

In the church of St. Charles Borromeo is the presidential crypt, where, since 1951, the Austrian presidents of the Second Republic have been buried with honors. As of June 2007, the following are buried here:

The very low structure of the crypt, built in 1951, does not give it a luxurious appearance, which is justified by the fact that the size of the crypt given by the architect should not spoil the view of the church of St. Carla. The crypt retained its original appearance only until 1950, when Karl Renner died, a stone sarcophagus was built with his name in the center. The names of the other presidents were added to the memorial plaque. The spouses of presidents can also be buried in the crypt, but this requires the consent of the presidential office. Hilda Scherf (d. 1956), Aloisia Renner (d. 1963), Margarita Jonas (d. 1976) and Herma Kirchschläger (d. 2009) were buried here; President Koerner was unmarried.

State burials are organized and paid for and are provided for presidents, chancellors, as well as presidents of the national council. There are cases when a place was allocated for persons who also held certain positions before their death.

So far, the presidents Karl Renner, Theodor Körner, Adolf Scherf, Franz Jonas and Thomas Klestil have received the state grave. Rudolf Kirchschläger and Kurt Waldheim received a state grave, and, in addition, according to the will, there was also a public installation of a farewell coffin in e.

Chancellors Leopold Figl, Julius Raab, Alfons Gorbach, Bruno Kreisky and Fred Zinovac also received state graves. Josef Klaus, on the contrary, indicated in his will that he be buried in a narrow family circle.

The last president of the National Socialist period, Wilhelm Miklas, who died in 1956, was buried in the Döbling Cemetery.

Honorary and honorary dedicated graves

In 1885, with the first burials in this place, the attractiveness of the cemetery for the burial of the famous dead increased. Today, one of the most frequently visited monuments by tourists is the tombstone of Wolfgang Mozart, although this is just a monument, since Mozart was buried on. Currently, there are more than 350 honorary graves and more than 600 honorary dedicated graves in the Central Cemetery.

Honorary graves (some)

Honorary dedicated graves (some)

Vienna Central Cemetery, Central Friedhof - Wiener Zentralfriedhof. Centralfriedhof is located in Zimmering. Opened in 1874, has an area of ​​2.5 km², there are 3,000,000 graves (for comparison - in Vienna less than 2,000,000 people live). This is one of the largest cemeteries in Europe. Buried here Beethoven, Joe Zawinul, Falco, Schubert, Brahms, All Strauss, glitch... Here is "false grave" (memorial) of Mozart(his real grave is on Cemetery of St. Mark). And real- Salieri! Here was buried "beloved niece" Hitler Geli Raubal. Here ... And in the cemetery everything is buried and buried - the cost of burial here is much lower than in others! This is a huge, perfectly well-groomed city of the dead, located in a park area, a whole museum of luxurious tomb sculptures and monuments, tombs and crypts. Works in the cemetery Museum of Funeral Accessories .

The population of Vienna in the 19th century increased rapidly, so a new cemetery was needed. Therefore, in 1874, the Central Cemetery was made in Simmering. Initially, the cemetery was created as a memorial complex, the graves of famous people, including the great Austrian composers, were moved here. The remains of Beethoven and Strauss were brought here from the Wahringer Friedhof cemetery in 1888. Buried in the cemetery: Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, Christoph Willibald Gluck, Johann Nestroy, Antonio Salieri, Franz Schubert, Johann Strauss (father), Johann Strauss (son), Joe Zawinul (Weather Report and Miles Davis band keyboardist), Falco ( pop singer, real name - Johann Hölzel). There is also a "false grave" (memorial) of Mozart.

In the same cemetery, Angelika "Geli" Maria Raubal (Angelika "Geli" Maria Raubal, 1908 -1931) found her last shelter - Hitler's niece and greatest love, who committed suicide (shot herself in the heart with Hitler's pistol). Her grave has not been preserved. It is known that on March 11, 1946, the body was exhumed from the existing crypt (type - for non-payment) and re-buried in a row of graves of group 33E, row 2, No. 73 in the same cemetery. In the 60s, this row of graves was razed to the ground. Then the grave was nevertheless restored, but did not last long: fearing a pilgrimage, it was again razed to the ground, and its exact location is officially unknown.

On the way from the city center, the first entrance will be, respectively, 1 - through it you will get directly to the Jewish part of the cemetery. Walking along the wall, you will reach the 2nd entrance - this is the front gate in the Art Nouveau style of the architect Max Hegel (Max Hegele), built in 1905. Entrance 2 is considered to be the central entrance.

Directly from the gate to the center of the cemetery - the Church of St. Charles Borromeo (Karl-Borromaus-Kirche, Friedhofskirche zum heiligen Karl Borromäus, Church of St. Borromeo) - the same Hegel designed it, and it was built from 1908 to 1910 , and there they immediately buried (in a special crypt) the then deceased mayor of the city. Opposite the church of St. Charles Borromeo is the presidential crypt-mausoleum, where, since 1945, the Austrian presidents of the Second Republic and their spouses have been buried with honors. Including in 2007, Kurt Waldheim, not only the Austrian president, but also the UN Secretary General from 1972 to 1981, was buried here.

On the way to the church there are Honorary burials - on the left (groups 32a and 14a) and on the right (32c and 14c). Gluck, Beethoven, Schubert, Strauss (father and sons), Brahms are all in Group 32a on the right. Mozart's symbolic burial is also in 32a. This pantheon of celebrities is a semicircle of graves with rather pretentious tombstones. Further along, in front of the Borromean Church, a little to the left, is the "wedge" of group 33G. There is a whole pantheon of figures of contemporary art, with rather original, sometimes, tombstones. For example, a pink phallic symbol over the grave of the performance artist Franz West (even during his lifetime he loved to sculpt sculptures in this spirit), the ascetic parallelepiped of Hans Kann, a modern Austrian composer, and the grave of Weather Report keyboardist Joe Zawinul, overshadowed by eternal "creative confusion". The grave of the famous pop singer Falco is quite far away, in group 40 (from the church you should turn left and stomp from half a kilometer.

By the way, the grave is the grave of Antonio Salieri (it is difficult to find it) not far from entrance 2 (as soon as you entered - immediately to the left), near the wall, almost opposite a small Orthodox church (around which there are many Russian graves). If you go further to the left along this wall to the end, then the last grave is the tombstone of the famous architect Adolf Looz. Behind her begins, by the way, a whole ridge solar panels local power plant...

This cemetery also has a special sector with the graves of Russian soldiers of 1945 - right behind the church of St. Charles Borromeo. There is nothing remarkable here - but there are a lot of nameless graves. Statues of two Soviet soldiers with lowered flags in their hands and a memorial panel with a quote from Stalin, poems by Mikhalkov and Alexei Surkov stand out as on a monument on Schwarzenbergplatz. But in sector 40, where Falco is buried, and in sector 33G, where Zawinul is buried, you can find many original and even funny (as it is not paradoxical) tombstones.

Across the Simmeringer Hauptstrasse from the main gate, slightly to the left, is the Crematorium, which was built by Clemens Holzmeister in 1922. Entrance 3 leads to Protestant graves, entrance 4 to new Jewish burials.

Since October 2014, a Funeral Museum (The Funeral Museum). Signposts help guide you. Open from 7.00 to 19.00. The central cemetery, due to its size, has long and fairly wide alleys-roads. It is allowed to travel by car at a speed of 20 km/h. Only on November 1 (All Saints' Day) the entrance is closed due to the large influx of visitors (sometimes over 300 thousand). Since 1971, a special bus has been running around the cemetery for people who do not have their own car. He travels every half an hour every day on the ring road (Line 106). To travel, you need to purchase a VOR ticket, in addition, you can pay on the spot. You can ride around the cemetery in a fiacre (wagon) - it's like a kind of quick "tour" to all the "known" graves. Fiacra ride from entrance 2, daily, from 10 to 7 pm. A short trip costs 40 Euro and lasts 30 minutes, a long one costs 70 Euro and an hour (vienna-carriage.com).

To the entrance to the cemetery from the square Schwarzenbergplatz since 1901, the old red tram number 71 has also been running (direction Zentralfriedhof 3.Tor). Therefore, in a vein, they often say about death like this: "He sat on the 71st." Near the rear entrance to the cemetery is the subway station (S-Bahn) Wien Zentralfriedhof, line S7. Another U3 line ends almost 2 km from the cemetery (Simmering station). Then again you can transfer to tram 71 or 6, which reach the third gate of Zentralfriedhof 3.Tor. It is better to get off at the second stop Zentralfriedhof 2.Tor - this is the main entrance.

Just walking around the cemetery, not knowing where a particular grave is located - a dead number, it is huge. There are, of course, some plans and pointers. But first ask where you are going. There is a search on the site - switch to English, enter the name of the buried person in the search form, then click on the name and surname in the search results and the site will give you a map with a circle in the place where the grave is located. Cemetery maps are also sold at entrance 2. Something like a quick operational map

Yes. We did it again - we visited a cemetery in another European country. The list was opened by an abandoned cemetery in Vilnius, which was roamed around in January. Now Vienna and its current legendary Central Cemetery.

Quite far from the city centerZimmering. The area of ​​the cemetery is huge - 2.5 km² and about three million graves.

Moreover, public transport runs here (because the distances are really impressive), and locals also come here just to take a walk. I'm not going to tell the story of this cemetery, I don't need to. So much has been written about himrewriteinformation for the billionth time there is no desire. But I can show what I saw with my own eyes and was stunned. For example, I met a deer there, but first things first.

We enter the territory of the cemetery and the first thing that catches our eye is a man who is sitting on a bench and reading a book. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, in front of the unreal beauty of the old graves (and they can really be beautiful, forget everything you knew about the monuments) and reading a book. This one picture can start the process of breaking patterns in your head. Then came a very self-sufficient protein. In general, there is nothing to say about her. Except that she reminded me of Gorky Park in Moscow. There, the same self-confident rodents jump and become impudent before our eyes.

Along the paths we went to explore the cemetery. The old part looks like an absolute triumph of architectural thought, one monument is more pompous than the other. All tombstones are black, gray or white flowers. Often there was writing in gold on black. Many monuments have columns and forged gates as a mandatory attribute.

Almost all plates have mounting hooks, thanks to whichheavythe lids were lowered onto the coffin and sealed the grave forever.

There you can even meet the instructions of the architect who created the monument.

Mostly family graves. They also mentioned professions. What could be better? The most common were doctors.

The most interesting thing happened next. By itself, the phrase "interesting things happened next" in the text about visiting the cemetery sounds a little creepy, but what can you do, such is the harsh reality. We are turning into an alley, and with peripheral vision I notice some movement in the bushes, a second later a deer jumps out of them in the literal sense of the word and crosses the alley. Deer! Not a cat, not a dove, and not even a squirrel we already know, but a huge deer! At the cemetery! He jumped first to the left, then to the right, walked along the graves. (Maybe visiting someone?) And jumped back into his bushes. This whole deer scene lasted no longer than 20 seconds, but I was speechless for a good few minutes.

Have you met a lot of deer in the Russian cemetery? What about those graves? What about entry permits for cars? Yes, you can drive around the cemetery, the speed limit is 20 km and 2€ for a permit.

Further - more The Central Cemetery is known for its famous dead. Presidents, cultural figures, writers and, of course, world famous composers are buried there. Here, please, the graves of LudwigvanBeethoven, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Franz Schubert, Johann Strauss for example. As far as we understand, there is a monument to Mozart without a grave, the rest are according to the rules.