Central Cemetery (Vienna)

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, but initially was generally outside the city limits.

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

Zimmerlingskaya main street, an important highway of the district, leads directly to the Central Cemetery and thereby makes a significant contribution to its accessibility.

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

Graveyard Transport

The central cemetery, due to its size, has long roads. For all the main ones, automobile communication is carried out daily ^[2] . The maximum permitted speed here is 20 km / h, which is provided for by traffic rules ^[3] . Only on November 1 ( Cathedral of All Saints ) entry is not possible, since on this day there is a great risk of major traffic congestion. Persons with a disability certificate have the right (since 2001) to come in an organized manner for a holiday ^[4] .

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

Every year, about 60 thousand visitors use the transport provided by the private bus company Dr. Richard Starting November 2, 2004, the company receives subsidies from the city of Vienna from 34 thousand euros per year, since it joined the transport organization East Region ( German: Verkehrsverbund Ost-Region (VOR) ). For travel, the visitor needs to purchase a VOR ticket, in addition, you can pay on the spot ^[5] .

The transport line of the cemetery was originally called the 11th line ( German Linie 11 ), but with the introduction of the train, to avoid confusion in the names with VOR-Linie 11 , the ring road of the cemetery was renamed 106 line ( German Linie 106 ) ^[6] .

Tram 71

To the entrance to the Central Cemetery from Schwarzenbergplatz, a traditional tram number 71 ( German Straßenbahnlinie 71 ) runs. It is an integral part of numerous jokes or songs about the last journey of the inhabitants of Vienna. So, at the funeral, you can hear the usual: “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 has been line number 71 since 1907. In 1918, for the first time, the 71st line separated from the street road. At this time, there was often night transport with corpses for burial at the Central Cemetery, those who died from the Spanish woman , and because of their large number of horses, were often not enough. In 1942, the Vienna tram acquired more than 3 of its own vehicles for transporting corpses. After the war, this type of transportation of the dead was finally abandoned.

Today, the 71st is also often used for movement, as it serves as a direct access route to the Central Cemetery. Near the rear entrance to the cemetery is the Vienna S-Bahn station called Wien Zentralfriedhof , line S7. Visitors to the cemetery use it relatively rarely. The U3 line of the Vienna Metro ends almost 2 km from the cemetery (no extension was planned before), this “last meter” completes the 71st along with tram line No. 6, which runs from 2000 to the third gate. By the feast of all saints, when 300 thousand visitors begin to storm the Central Cemetery, the intervals of movement on 71 lines are greatly reduced. On this day, the message, until the opening of the Zimmerling metro station in 2000, was called the 35th line of the feast of all saints ( German Allerheiligen-Linie 35 ).

In the church of st. Carla Borromeo is the presidential crypt, where, since 1951, the Austrian presidents of the Second Republic are buried with honors. As of June 2007, there are buried:

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 crypt size set 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 remaining presidents were added to the memorial plaque. Spouses of presidents can also be buried in a crypt, but this requires the consent of the presidential office. Here were buried Hilda Scherf (d. 1956), Aloisia Renner (d. 1963), Margarita Jonas (d. 1976) and Herma Kirchschläger (d. 2009); President Körner was not married.

State burials are organized and paid for by the Republic of Austria 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, until death, also held some positions.

Until now, President 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 coffin for farewell in Hofburg .

Chancellors Leopold Figl , Julius Raab , Alfons Gorbach , Bruno Kraisky and Fred Zinovac also received state graves. Joseph Klaus opposite the will indicated that he should 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.

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

Honorary Graves (some)

Honorary Initiates of the Grave (some)

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  Johannes Brahms

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  Karl Ritter

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  Adolph Loos

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  musician Falco

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  Fatti Georg

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  Matthias Sindelar

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  Friedrich Thorberg

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  Victor Tilgner

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  Church of Lazarus the Four-Day

• Friedhöfe Wien GmbH - Zentralfriedhof
• Kunst und Kultur in Wien - Der Wiener Zentralfriedhof
• Belle Epoque und Jugendstil - Zentralfriedhof und Lueger-Gedächtniskirche
• Planet Vienna - Zentralfriedhof
• Bebilderter Bericht über den Zentralfriedhof