Karl borromäo church, zentralfriedhof (Vienna)

         back to "vienna cemeteries"         

The central avenue of the Zentralfriedhof leads directly to the Karl-Borromäo Church, an Art Nouveau or Jugendstil church that was designed by Max Hegele. It was opened in 1910 and refurbished only recently. Despite of being rather fond of Jugendstil myself, I very much dislike the Hegele church - it is very light, very colourful, very playful - not appropriate for a cemetery church or any church in my opinion, really.

Since it was refurbished very recently, it is even more colourful and resembles a Las Vegas casino. Its opening was done only three years after the construction of the Kirche am Steinhof had been finished - a Jugenstil masterpiece by Otto Wagner, who was buried at the Cemetery of Hietzing. Hegele was a student of his.