Von Katterburg zu Schönbrunn

In 1996, the Palace and Gardens of Schönbrunn were inscribed on the World Heritage List. In inscribing Schönbrunn, the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO recognised that "the Palace and Gardens of Schönbrunn in Vienna - as a symbol of great heritage and one of the most important corner-stones in the history of Austria - are of outstanding universal value", according to Mounir Bouchenaki, director of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre. With this honour, the commitment to preserve the complex, which of necessity is connected with the research into it, was not created for the first time, but greater public interest and consciousness were focused on it. Since the dissolution in 1992 of the Schlosshauptmannschaft Schönbrunn, the monument has been administered by the Schloss Schönbrunn Kultur- and Betriebsgesellschaft. This occurred as a result of the Federal Law of 1 October 1992, supported by all parliamentary parties. Its first point is: "Preservation of the fabric of the buildings, protection, improvement and care of the cultural monument of Schönbrunn Palace as a total complex, architectural monument, cultural treasure, historical garden and place of scholarly activity, giving particular consideration to the historical importance of the palace." Over the course of the past ten years, from 1992 to 2002, the palace building, its adjacent buildings and the structures found in its gardens have been restored at a total cost of one billion schillings (c. 73 million euros). At the initiative of the technical managing director of the Schloss Schönbrunn Kultur- and Betriebsgesellschaft, Dr. Wolfgang Kippes, this work was accompanied by a large number of scientific studies. These include the present work, which arose in the course of two Austrian Science Fund research projects (P-12208-HIS and P-14326-ARS). They were directed by Dr. Artur Rosenauer, Professor of the History of Austrian Art at the University of Vienna. The occasion for the two research projects was provided by completely unexpected finds discovered in 1994 during construction work in the central area of the main building and subsequently exposed by the Archaeology Department of the Austrian Federal Office for the Care of Monuments. They were found to be the remains of buildings that were predecessors of the palace built by Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach beginning in 1695-96. The finds were completely unexpected because Schönbrunn research up to that time was unanimous in its opinion that the earlier complex had been much farther to the east and on the (modern) boundary of the district of Meidling. The finds of 1994-95 did not clarify the early architectural history of Schönbrunn before the second Turkish siege of Vienna in 1683. Rather it created an awareness of how inadequately this period of the history of Schönbrunn, which before 1642 was named Katterburg, had been researched previously. What was lacking, above all, was basic archival research with a critical analysis of the written and pictorial sources. It was clear from the outset that this research into the sources could not be restricted to the buildings themselves but had to also include the history of their ownership and use because of the direct influence these had on the respective history of the buildings. Moreover, it was also necessary to include areas of the districts of Hietzing and Meidling that adjoined Schönbrunn on the west and east, since this was the only means of retracing the former size of the Katterburg property during the various periods. Written documentation traced the origins of the monument of Schönbrunn back to the 12th century, resulting in a 500-year period to be researched. On the one hand the later position of Schönbrunn as a château de plaisance and summer residence of the Austrian sovereigns gives meaning to its past. In that light, Katterburg represents, as it were, the "prehistory" of Schönbrunn. On the other hand, closer examination shows that Katterburg had a very volatile "history of its own", which was very closely tied to Klosterneuburg Abbey, one of Austria`s most important monasteries.