Wien, 1. Bezirk (the art of paying respect to highly deserving personalities of Vienna), Maria Theresia, Maria Teresa d'Austria, María Teresa I de Austria, Marie-Thérèse d'Autriche (1717-1780), Maria Theresa of Austria (Maria-Theresien-Platz)
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Maria Theresa monument in Vienna
Maria Theresa Square
The Maria Theresa monument is the most important ruler monument of the Habsburg monarchy in Vienna. It is reminiscent of the Empress Maria Theresa, who ruled from 1740 to 1780, and is since 1888 on the Maria Theresa Square on the Vienna ring road (Castle Square - Burgring) between the then Imperial Museums, in 1891 opened the Kunsthistorisches Museum (Museum of Art History) and in 1889 opened the Natural History Museum (Naturhistorisches Museum), in front of the background of the Museum Quarter, then the imperial stables. This by Tritons and Najad Fountains accompanied Ensemble monument counts to the UNESCO World Heritage Site Historic Centre of Vienna.
Historical Background
View from the top (2010)
The Empire of Austria in 1859 and 1866 lost Lombardy and Veneto to the new Kingdom of Italy. It was in 1866 forced to resigne after the defeat of the German war, the Prussians had triggered by violation of the rules of the German Confederation from Germany, which in 1871 was constituted as German Empire under a new empire. In 1867 Emperor Franz Joseph I. in Compromise with Hungary had to agree to the formal division of the empire into a ruled from Vienna cisleithanian and ruled from Budapest transleithanian half of the Empire, with Hungary increasingly presenting itself not as a part of the empire, but as a largely independent state. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leitha
During the World Exhibition 1873 in Vienna an economic crisis had occurred, the &quot;founders' crash - Gründerkrach&quot; that devalued liberalism as the leading political movement and new mass parties, for the time being, the Christian Social Party, and later the Social Democrats, putting forth. In addition, more and more national movements were felt in the multiethnic state.
Those centrifugal and the imperial power eroding tendencies one would counteract by patriotic appeals to splendor and glory of the empire. At the since 1858 under construction and in 1865 opened new Vienna ring road around the old town was offered the chance. On the Maria Theresa Square the center facing adjoining Heldenplatz outside the Hofburg in 1860 and 1865 monuments of the two most important generals of the monarchy were built. For the Maria Theresa square, which with the Heldenplatz should form an Imperial Forum, it was a good occasion to erect a monument to the historical mother of the nation. She had by her marriage to Francis Stephen of Lorraine and his election as emperor, the Roman-German Empire brought back to Vienna and the continuation of the dynasty, now as House of Habsburg-Lorraine, secured. She referred to a time when the development of the monarchy was not dependent on any political party nor on national political considerations, but by the wisdom of the rulers. Her reputation and popularity should radiate to the current empire.
The monument
Gypsum model of a draft of the monument
Maria Theresa surrounded by the allegories of the cardinal virtues
For the execution of the sculptures in 1874 the three sculptors Johannes Benk, Carl Kundmann and Caspar Zumbusch submitted designs. Emperor Franz Joseph I decided for Zumbusch, with his student Anton Brenek around 13 years working on the bronze sculptures, which have a total weight of 44 tons. Carl von Hasenauer designed the architecture of the monument.
With the base, the monument covers an area of ​​632 square meters and is 19.36 m high, on top the seated figure of the Empress with 6 m height. Base and chain pedestal consist of Mauthausen granite from Enghagen in Upper Austria, pedestal and base of brown hornblende granite from Petersburg-Jeschitz at Pilsen in the Czech Republic, the columns of serpentinite from Wiesen near Sterzing in South Tyrol.
The program's content for the monument came from Alfred von Arneth, director of the Imperial House, Court and State Archives. The monarch herself sits on her throne at the top, in the left hand a scepter and the Pragmatic Sanction, the State and the Constitutional Treaty, her allowing the rule in the Habsburg lands as woman, saluting with the right hand the people. Around the throne on the cornice are sitting as allegorical personifications of the cardinal virtues of justice, strength, gentleness and wisdom four female figures .
At the four sides of the base each is located a circular field with a relief and before that a freestanding statue in thematic context:
The consultants of the Archduchess are represented by Wenzel Anton Kaunitz as a statue and Johann Christoph von Bartenstein, Gundakar Thomas Graf Starhemberg and Florimond Claude of Mercy-Argenteau in relief, the background shows the Gloriette in the garden of Schonbrunn Palace.
For the administration stand Friedrich Wilhelm von Haugwitz (statue) and Antal Grassalkovich I, Samuel Brukenthal, Paul Joseph of Riegger, Karl Anton von Martini and Joseph von Sonnenfels in a consulting room in the Imperial Palace.
For the military stand Joseph Wenzel I (statue) with Franz Moritz von Lacy, Andreas Hadik of Futak and Franz Leopold of Nádasdy in front of the castle in Wiener Neustadt, in which in 1752 the Theresa Military Academy was established.
Science and art are represented by the physician Gerard van Swieten (statue), the numismatist Joseph Hilarius Eckhel, the historian György Pray and the composer Christoph Willibald Gluck, Joseph Haydn and the as child represented Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in front of the Old University.
Consultants
Management
Military
Science and Art
On the diagonal axes surround equestrian statues of four commanders from the era of Maria Theresa the monument: Leopold Joseph von Daun (1705-1766), Ludwig Andreas von Khevenhüller (1683-1744), Gideon Ernst von Laudon (1717-1790) and Otto Ferdinand von Abensperg and Traun (1677-1748).
Leopold Joseph von Daun
Ludwig Andreas von Khevenhüller
Gideon Ernst von Laudon
Otto Ferdinand von Abensperg and Traun
Open base during the renovation (2008)
The monument is being totally renovated since October 2008. In a first step, the base whose granite cladding and the foundation were restored. Under the monument in the course of the work a 600-square-foot brick vault was discovered as a supporting structure that is similar to already known components underneath the equestrian statues on Heroes' Square. In a second step, the stone and metal surfaces are being rehabilitated until probably October 2013.
Reception
The monument in 1888
Maria Theresa Square in 1900
<a href="https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria-Theresien-Denkmal" rel="noreferrer nofollow">de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria-Theresien-Denkmal</a>