Karl Graf Lanckoronski-Brzezie (1848–1933), writer (“The cities of Pamphiliens and Pisidia”, 2 volumes), art collector, patron and monument conservator undertook an archaeological research trip to Asia Minor from 1882 to 1884, traveled to Egypt together with Hans Makart and later undertook another trip around the world.
The artists he supported included the poets Hofmannsthal and Rilke, the painters Böcklin and Makart, and the sculptors Rodin, Tilgner and Zumbusch.
In 1894/95 he had a palace built for himself and his family on the property at Jacquingasse 18 by Ferdinand Fellner and Hermann Helmer. The successful architect duo had already built the Palais Seybel in our district in 1889 and the Palais Schnapper, which no longer exists.
A clay jug, a clay lamp, urns and coins were discovered in an archaeological grave in a sand pit on Jacquingasse before the palace was built.
In addition to a chapel, the palace contained picture rooms — our picture shows the Italian room — and what was then the richest private art collection in Vienna, which was accessible to visitors.
In 1938 the palace was confiscated by the SS and the art collection was relocated; the part of the collection stored in Hohenems Castle burned. Air bombs destroyed the palace in 1944; the ruins were removed in 1960.
The three heirs sold some of the art objects that had survived to the National Gallery in London. The rest, donated to the Polish state by Lanckoronski’s youngest daughter, art historian Karolina Lanckoronska, is housed in Kraków’s Wawel. We were visited a few years ago by the Polish art historian Joanna Winiewicz-Wolska about Lanckoronski.
As a thank you for our support, she sent us her two publications, written in Polish and richly illustrated. In the meantime, the texts have been translated into German and all the pictures have been photographed.
Interesting details can be found at:
By the way, Karolina Lanckoronskas wrote the book “Courage is innate”, in which she describes her experiences during the Second World War and in the Ravensbrück concentration camp.
