Gravesite Hietzing/Vienna

The Hietzing cemetery, founded in 1892, is the best-known cemetery in Vienna’s 13th district. It is located on the southern edge of Alt-Hietzing, in the neighbourhood of the palace and park grounds of Schönbrunn, the former imperial summer residence. The cemetery grounds are bordered by Maxingstraße to the west and Elisabethallee to the south. To the east of the cemetery, on the other side of Seckendorff-Gudent-Weg, lies the former dairy of Empress Elisabeth. In the southern part of the Schlosspark, which has an entrance here, is the Fasangartensiedlung housing estate and an area belonging to the Maria Theresien barracks (formerly part of the Fasangarten). Finally, to the north, you come to the small Maxingpartk, which adjoins the Tyrolean Garden outside the wall of the palace park.

The main entrance is located at Maxingstraße 15. The cemetery covers an area of 97,175 square metres and contains 11,207 graves.

History of the Hietzing Cemetery

Hietzing belonged to the parish of Penzing until 1786. The dead therefore had to be buried in the ‘Gottesacker zu Penzing’. Nevertheless, there was probably already a cemetery in the area of Maxingstraße 6 and Trauttmansdorffgasse 1 before Hietzing became a parish. This is indicated by the old cemetery cross from 1619 embedded in the front of the house at Maxingstraße 6 and the note in the ‘Topography of Lower Austria’ that ‘the growth of the village in 1787 made it necessary to build a new cemetery on the Küniglberge’.

With the parish elevation of Hietzing, the new ‘Leichenhof’ was built in the south-western part of Hietzing and consecrated on 12 February 1787 by the dean of Klosterneuburg, Marcellin Jani. Extensions were made in 1794, 1817 and 1835, with the cemetery being enclosed by a wall during the last extension. In 1861, the municipality of Hietzing took ownership of the cemetery. When the cemetery was extended again in 1892, it was already owned by the Vienna City Council after the incorporation of Hietzing in 1890/1892 and was intended as an interdenominational cemetery for the dead of Hietzing and Schönbrunn Palace. Following the expansion of the cemetery, a new mortuary on Maxingstraße with two mortuary chambers and an anteroom as well as a flat for a caretaker was put into operation in 1897.

The old part of the cemetery in Biedermeier style was renovated in 1970. The storage hall and chapel were also remodelled in the early 1970s according to plans by Erich Boltenstern, and the administration buildings were also renovated. The cemetery’s eastern edge was extended for the last time in 1979. The most recent remodelling of the storage rooms took place between 1989 and 1991 according to plans by Christof Riccabona. The rococo style of laying-out room no. 2 was retained.

Crypt Hietzing

On the occasion of the death of Carl Ferdinand Ritter Mautner von Markhof (1896), one of the cemetery’s most impressive tombs was erected, the design of which is based on the prevailing Art Nouveau style of the time. Conceived as a double crypt, it has, however, only been simply extended to date. If you take the second path to the left after the large cemetery cross, its black cross can be seen from afar from the main path. The border, made of light-coloured granite blocks, is decorated with elaborately crafted bronze lattices, while the structure itself is made of black Swedish granite. The original inscriptions were also cast in bronze.

Since 2015, considerable funds have been invested in restoring this tomb to its original state, and it has been painstakingly restored with great attention to detail*. Since 2018, new plantings and additional name plaques have completed the fully developed double crypt.

*In 2012, the cemetery was ravaged by ‘copper thieves’ who brutally damaged the Mautner Markhof gravesite as well as 20 other graves. A large part of the copper railing was stolen, the bronze inscriptions were partially torn out of the marble stone and even the foundation was badly damaged. Despite intensive efforts by the police, the perpetrators have still not been identified – only one further attempted burglary was thwarted in 2013 thanks to an attentive cemetery employee. The damage was enormous and could only be repaired thanks to the considerable financial resources of the members of the burial society.

Family members buried in this crypt

Mautner Markhof Carl Ferdinand (1834 – 1896; genealogical tree 2.)
Mautner Markhof Johanna (née Kleinoscheg; 1846 – 1872; genealogical tree 2.)
Mautner Markhof Editha (née Frn. Sunstenau v. Schützenthal; 1846 – 1918; genealogical tree 2.)
Mautner Markhof Helene (née Kosnapfl; 1867 – 1926; genealogical tree 2.2.)
Mautner Markhof Victor (1865 – 1919; genealogical tree 2.2.)
Szilvinyi Geza v. (1853 – 1906; genealogical tree 2.3.)
Szilvinyi Gertrude (née Mautner Markhof; 1866 – 1962; genealogical tree 2.3.)
Szilvinyi Viktoria (née Pistauer; 1890 – 1941; genealogical tree 2.3.2.)
Spornberger Susanna (née Engelhart; 1904 – 1968; genealogical tree 2.7.5.)