Neugebäude Palace

English Summary

The Neugeäude in Simmering is one of the most important Renaissance complexes north of the Alps.

The palace consists oft he main centre building with two terraces in front of it on the northern side, the main courtyard that faces south and a U-shaped building circling the courtyard of honour. Adjoined to the east of the main building is the Löwenhof, consisting of a building for ball games, stables and outbuildings and the walls. Facing south and encircled by walls with round towers is the Upper Garden, now the site of the crematorium built in 1921 according to plans by Clemens Holzmeister. To the north of the palace lies the former Lower Garden, which is now used as agricultural land, and which when it was built had a large divided pond in front of it.

Typologically the Neugebäude is a garden complex. The architecture of the palace - which in this case should more accurately be called a "Bellevue" than a palace - was of only secondary importance. The structure of the gardens displays all the characteristics of a Renaissance garden. The accentuated middle axis and the direct relationship of the palace building to the gardens were unusually advanced for the period in which they were built and in complexes north oft he Alps.

In Central Europe gardens were usually added to older residences and their axes made no reference to the architecture. The construction of the Neugebäude palace on a "greenfield site", i.e. where there was no earlier building, made it possible to experiment with a new concept. The Neugebäude has no Austrian archetype for either its architecture or its gardens. The complex realises the ideas of the "villa suburbana" so popular with members of the aristocracy and princes of the church in Italy, a summer residence outside the confines of the city built solely for the leisure of the social elite.

The history of the Neugebäude starts in 1568, the year in which Emperor Maximilian II began to build a hunting lodge on a scarp slope in the wetlands near the river Danube. The new complex was in close proximity to an older palace in Kaiser Ebersdorf and for that reason was named "Neugebäude", or the "New Building."

There is much to suggest that the imperial builder was personally involved in developing the concept for the palace. Scholars have identified the painters and sculptors who worked on the project and even the master builder, Pietro Ferrabosco; but nowhere does the name of an architect appear in documents. However, the modern architectural concept of the Neugebäude permits the conclusion that the Emperor consulted an artistic and educated advisor who also had excellent connections to the princely courts of ltaly. Among the circle of men surrounding the Emperor only Jacopo Strada could have played this role. However, Strada never acted as an executing architect. He was, instead, a passionate collector of antiquities, engravings and books. Nevertheless, his role as a communicator of ltalian architectural ideas should certainly not be underestimated.

The authorship of the Emperor and his advisor is corroborated by the more than complicated construction history of the building, which was characterised by countless minute and virtually indistinguishable alterations to the plans and which - as the results of building research show -. suddenly came to an end when Maximilian II died in October 1576.

The sons and successors of Emperor Maximilian II seemed to have had little interest in the palace and the complex was mostly used as an lmperial menagerie. In 1775 Maria Theresia decided to let the army have the use of the building. Most of the fittings of the Neugebäude palace, in particular the pillars from the northern facade were removed and transported to Schönbrunn. The pillars found new use in the Gloriette at the top of the hill behind Schönbrunn palace. But other parts, such as a number of fountains were also set up again in the gardens of Schönbrunn.

In 1909 the City of Vienna purchased the palace and its grounds, but they continued to be used for military purposes until 1918. In 1921 the crematorium was erected in what had been the Upper Garden according to plans by architect Clemens Holzmeister. These plans place the crematorium precisely in the axis of the existing palace complex, while the old well house was incorporated into the new crematoriurn as an administrative building.

The start of the 21st century also ushered in a new age for the Neugebäude. On 14 December 2000 the Vienna City Council, with the votes of all political parties, voted to found the "Society for the Preservation and Revitalisation of the Neugebäude Palace". As its name indicates, the non-profit organisation has two main aims: to preserve and revitalise the complex and to draw up proposals for its future use.

Immediately after the society was founded, a construction phase plan was drawn up with the main objective of preserving the historical building fabric. This preservation work was accompanied by the first design problems concerning the practical use of the individual interior rooms. The planned structural activities were broken down into several renovation steps which were evaluated in financial terms and then carried out as necessary. This "basic renovation" should be completed by summer 2004.

In the past the building had seen most use as a venue for summer activities in July and August of 2002 and 2003. New life was brought to the old walls with an open-air cinema, theatre performances and gastronomy according to the motto "Summer in the Palace". In these two years - or four months to be more precise - some 20,000 people visited the palace. Parallel to the summer activities, the Neugebäude Society is also exploring the possibilities für a permanent use of the palace.

Numerous approaches, from use as a school to a computer factory, have been examined and then rejected. Of the projects currently under consideration, the most promising is the establishment of a Science Park, an idea which is being developed in cooperation with the Vienna University of Technology and the Viennese waste disposal facilities (Wiener Entsorgungsbetrieben). There are justified grounds for hoping that what is today a project, a vision, will become reality tomorrow. And the Emperor's palace, born of an idea, will finally awaken to a new life.