St. Charles Borromeo Church

The Roman Catholic Karl Borromäus Church in the Central Cemetery (2nd gate) in Simmering, directly behind the Federal President’s Crypt built 40 years later, was completed in 1911 according to plans by the architect Max Hegele. In addition to the cemetery church built in Art Nouveau style, which was already planned when the cemetery was opened in 1874, Hegele also planned the main portal and the burial halls.

The former Dr. Karl Lueger Memorial Church, which was reopened in 2000 in the course of a general renovation, was probably renamed because of the anti-Semitic views of the former mayor, who had a tomb built under the main altar in the course of its construction.

The striking, centrally domed rotunda is strongly reminiscent of the Otto Wagner Church at Steinhof, who was himself on the jury evaluating the cemetery buildings put out to tender and was thus familiar with Hegeles‘ plans of 1899.

The rondeau of the Federal President’s Crypt in the chapel courtyard in front of the church is the burial place of the Federal Presidents of the Second Republic. In the centre is a stone sarcophagus with the Federal Coat of Arms.