Monument to Maria Theresa

Monument to Maria Theresa in Vienna

Monument to Maria Theresia ( German: Maria-Theresien-Denkmal ) - a monument erected in Vienna by the representative of the Habsburg dynasty , Maria Theresa , Archduke of Austria and the Holy Empress of the Holy Roman Empire . Maria Theresa ruled in the Habsburg Monarchy in 1740-1780. The monument was erected in 1888 on a square in the center of the city, which was also named after the Empress .

In 1874, sculptors Johannes Benck , Karl Kundman and Caspar Tsumbush presented their designs for the monument to Maria Theresa. Emperor Franz Joseph I chose the Tsumbush project. The sculptor, along with apprentice Anton Brenek, worked on a bronze sculpture weighing 44 tons for thirteen years. The architectural part of the monument was entrusted to Karl von Hazenauer .

The base of the monument covers an area of ​​632 square meters. m, the height of the monument is 19.36 m. The sculptural portrait of the seated empress has a height of 6 meters. The base and chain stands are made of Mauthausen granite, the pedestal is made of Bohemian brown amphibole granite, and the columns are made of Wipiten serpentinite .

Alfred von Arnett , director of the imperial state archive, was responsible for the substantive program of the monument. On the top of the monument, Maria Theresa sits on the throne, she holds in her left hand a scepter and pragmatic sanction , which gave her power in the Habsburg monarchy and Hungary, and with her right hand greets the people. Around the throne on the main ledge are four allegorical female figures of the cardinal virtues of Justice, Strength, Mercy and Wisdom. In lunettes on four sides of the pedestal, bas-reliefs are made, and in front of them are statues on various topics:

• Among the Empress's advisers are represented in a statue by Anton Wenzel Kaunitz and on a bas-relief by Johann Christoph von Bartenstein , Gundaker Thomas Staremberg and Florimon de Mercy-Argento against the backdrop of Glorietta Schönnbrunn Garden .
• Among the empress’s managers are represented in the statue of Friedrich Wilhelm von Gaugwitz and on the bas-relief Antal Grashalkovich I (from the Kingdom of Hungary ), Samuel von Bruckenthal (from Transylvania ), Paul Joseph Rigger (legal scholar), Joseph Sonnenfels (reformer Antoni Martti and (professor of public law), conferring in one of the offices of Hofburg .
• Among the warlords of the empress are represented in the statue of Joseph Wenzel I and on the bas-relief of Franz Moritz von Lassi , Andras Hadik and Franz Leopold Nadashdi against the background of the fortress in Wiener Neustadt, where the Theresian Academy was founded in 1752.
• Under the Empress, science and art are embodied in the statue by the doctor Gerard van Sviten and on the bas-relief the numismatist Johann Joseph Ilari Eckel , the historian György Pry and composers Christoph Willibald Gluck , Joseph Haydn and the child Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart portrayed against the background of the old Vienna building.

Four equestrian statues of military leaders of the Maria Theresa era are installed along two diagonal axes of the monument: Leopold Joseph Down , Ludwig Andreas Kevenhüller , Ernst Gideon Laudon and Otto Ferdinand von Abensperg und Traun .

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  Advisers

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  Managers

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  Warlords

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  Representatives of science and art