November 2024 – michaelsrootsinvienna.at (en)

St. John’s Church Unterlaa

Posted by: Michael Würzelberger Posted on: 28. November 2024 1100wien

The Roman Catholic Church of St. John in Unterlaa in the 10th district, right next to the Liesingbach stream, is considered one of the oldest churches in Vienna, as some of its components date back to the early 11th century. The location and alignment of the stone foundations in particular suggest a sacred building and adjoining estate from the time of Roman settlement, which were then probably also used as building material for the first small church.

Early Christian graves inside the church may also be attributed to the first priests. In the 13th century, the church was taken over by the Knights of St. John (now the Order of Malta), the landlords of the area at the time, and consecrated to St. John the Baptist. During the Second Turkish Siege of Vienna in 1683, the church, which was repeatedly extended and rebuilt, was destroyed and then rebuilt shortly afterwards.

On the grounds around the church there is also a Holy Sepulchre Chapel from 1700 and an archaeological showroom run by the Favoriten District Museum.

Battle on the Marchfeld

Posted by: Michael Würzelberger Posted on: 17. November 2024 1010wien | 2000noe

Even though the monument is located in the Weinviertel region of Lower Austria, the memorial stone on the municipal border between Dürnkrut and Jedenspeigen is also of central importance for Vienna. The 6m-high granite block depicting a knight with a horse by the Austrian sculptor Carl Hermann errected in 1978 commemorates the Battle of Marchfeld (German: Schlacht am Marchfeld) on August 26, 1278, which laid the foundations for the Habsburg reign in Austria.

Erected in the center of the battlefield around 50 km north-east of Vienna, it documents one of the largest knightly battles in Europe between Ottokar II Přemysl, King of the Bohemians, who as Duke of Austria had succeeded the Babenbergs, who had died out in 1251, and the newcomer Rudolf I of Habsburg, who 5 years before the battle had been awarded the Roman-German kingship by the election of the electors.

The battle, which had a lasting impact on the fate of Austria and Europe and ended with the death of Ottokar on the battlefield, is also extensively documented and presented in multimedia form in the Jedenspeigen Castle Museum. A popular knights‘ festival is also held on site once a year in summer.

Memorial for the victims of Spiegelgrund

Posted by: Michael Würzelberger Posted on: 3. November 2024 1140wien

The “Memorial for the Victims of Spiegelgrund” on the Otto Wagner site in the 14th district commemorates the children and young people who were systematically tortured and murdered there during the National Socialist era with 772 light steles. The criminal doctors working there killed sick, disabled or, from their point of view, “uneducable” people as part of the so-called “Aktion T4” in the light of the National Socialist racial mania after categorizing them as “unfit for education” and “causing permanent costs”.

Transports from children’s homes and specially organized “selection trips” were used to send people to the “euthanasia institution”, which was trivialized after the war, usually without justification and without informing the parents. The agonizing deaths were carried out through malnutrition and hypothermia, usually followed by an overdose of sleeping pills.

In the background you can also see the Am Steinhof Theater in the Baroque Art Nouveau style by Franz Berger, which is due to reopen soon after extensive renovation.