The story of a dazzling personality in Viennese society
The Landstrasse district certainly has far more baroque palaces and palaces than many other districts in Vienna. One such building, whose splendor and splendor was proverbial throughout Vienna in its heyday, is today’s Federal Geological Survey, the former residence of the Tsar’s secret ambassador at the time of the Congress of Vienna, Andreas Kyrill Rasumofsky.
He was born in St. Petersburg on October 22, 1752 and died in Vienna on September 23, 1836. Coming from one of the most interesting families of tsarist Russia, he became a dazzling personality in Viennese society in the first decades of the 19th century. He had a decisive influence on the city’s musical and cultural life in particular. He became famous for setting up a quartet made up of the musicians Schuppanzigh, Sina, Weiß and Linke, which went down in Vienna’s musical history under the name “Rasumofsky Quartet”. The prince, who played the violin himself, took this quartet into his service. It was to gain particular importance through Ludwig van Beethoven, who had found a friend and patron in Rasumofsky. It was soon fully available to the composer; Beethoven took advantage of this: The Rasumofsky Quartet thus became of the greatest importance for the dissemination and understanding of Beethoven’s chamber music works.
In April 1792, Rasumofsky came to Vienna as a Russian ambassador. He soon had the idea of buying up land here that would provide space for a palace and a huge park.
At the end of the 17th century, the alley that stretches from Weißgerberlände to Landstrasser Hauptstrasse was still called Rauchfangkehrergasse. It got its name from Anton Mathias Kottel, a bourgeois chimney sweep who owned a small house here and from whose profession the name of the street was derived. Rasumofsky bought no fewer than ten of the houses located here. Overall, the Russian envoy acquired houses and gardens Nos. 72–80, 82, 92 and 94 in the years 1792–1800, according to the Landstrasser numbering of the time. At that time, №77 belonged to the court and civil chimney sweep Johann Baptist Dezuri and №78 to the master chimney sweep Mathias Kottel. In addition, the inn “Zum goldenen Rauchfang” was still on the site of the later palace. The house of the chimney sweep Kottel is said to have been the seat of the chimney sweeps’ guild. An advertisement in the “Wiener Zeitung” from 1805 tells us that the inn was still in operation at the time, i.e. it existed at the time when the palace was being built. With the construction of the new palace, the old Rauchfangkehrergasse disappeared: it gave way to a wide tree-lined avenue with a driveway, bridle path and footpath, which ended at the junction of Marxergasse and later Rasumofskygasse with a wide stone candle arch like a triumphal arch.
The production of this romantic candle arch, which formed the end of the alley towards the Prater, must have taken place after 1808, since Rasumofsky was granted the magistrate’s permit for it in that year. Before the Rasumofsky Palace was built, the only connection between the country road and the Danube floodplains on the other side of the water was the “double bridge” built under Joseph 11, which was located near the so-called Stadtgut. It was made of solid oak wood and was therefore called the double bridge (partly two rows of carriages could drive over it, while there was also space for pedestrians.
The Erdbergers had; a way to get to the Prater if they didn’t want to make the detour via the old Stadtgut (the Wurstelprater of the time). Rasumofsky decided to remedy this deficiency and had a bridge, the Rasumofsky-Steg, built over the arm of the Danube. This stone bridge was erected in 1811, over which the Russian envoy could go directly from his property to the Prater. The bridge was made entirely of stone, resting on a central and two side piers. Apparently, the bank was particularly badly affected by flooding and ice shoals at this point, with the result that the new bridge was so damaged after only eight years (1819) that it had to be removed. Soon after, an association was formed under the chairmanship of the hydraulic engineering director Kudriaffsky — this active association had been constituted in September 1824 — with the aim of building the first Viennese chain bridge. Kudriaffsky designed the plans himself, and the new bridge was opened to traffic in 1825. Initially expanded only for pedestrians and riders, the bridge, which was later named “Sophienbrücke” in honor of Archduchess Sophie, was converted into a mobile bridge. This conversion took place in the years 1871/72, according to plans by Köstlin and Battig. Subsequently, this chain bridge was replaced by an arch bridge in 1937; meanwhile the building was called “Rotundenbrücke”. The Rotunden Bridge, which was destroyed in the war, was rebuilt in 1953/54.
Even if the Rasumofsky palace itself was to become one of the greatest sights in the city, a gathering place for the most magnificent art treasures, the layout of the magnificent garden alone had amazed everyone. From the palace to the bridge, Rasumofsky had his trusted house gardener Rosenthal lay out the garden in the English style.
In the years 1803 to 1807 one of the most magnificent buildings of that time was built on the Landstraße. According to the plans of the court architect Ludwig Montoyer, the palace was built by master builder Josef Meissl in the classical Palladian style and made an impression with its pure lines and the uniform overall arrangement. The facade facing Rasumofskygasse had a protruding central risalit. The vertical structure was provided by the central avant-corps of pilasters, whose capitals were decorated with leaf hangers, and pilaster strips on the side avant-corps. The front facing Geseugasse was particularly animated by the gable porch supported by four columns. The garden wing was also enriched with a pillared porch, and the roof was framed by a baluster attic. With this building, the architect Montoyer, who is also the builder of the Albrechtspalais and the Knights’ Hall of the Vienna Hofburg, succeeded in creating one of the most beautiful Empire buildings in the third district and in Vienna at all. Above all, the great effect of the building interior is to be emphasized. The domed hall with its eight Corinthian pilasters borders on the vestibule supported by Doric columns. The coffered dome rests on rich, filigree decorated cornices, the pilasters continue up into the dome in the form of belts. Eight oval windows give plenty of light. The adjoining room, the pillared hall, is even more impressive. One is reminded of another of Montoyer’s creations, the Knights’ Hall of the Hofburg. The hall is completely dominated by the yellow Corinthian columns that stretch along the walls and form a room within a room. In rectangular wall panels one sees reliefs with Bacchic scenes and sacrificial scenes. Mirrored doors lead from this columned or ballroom onto the columned terrace in the garden. The social rooms adjoining the ballroom are also in Empire style. The ceilings are decorated with grisaille paintings in white, yellow and gold. One of these adjoining rooms, the so-called White or Beethoven Hall, was the place where Beethoven attended the performance of his works.
The impression made by this building and its rooms today no longer corresponds to the original condition, because on New Year’s Eve 1814, a few years after the completion of the building, it fell victim to a devastating fire, which destroyed a large number of priceless works of art . When the fire was finally under control, the garden side had burned down completely. Tsar Alexander of Russia offered his help to Prince Rasumofsky, who borrowed 400,000 silver rubles, but this was not enough to restore the palace to its former glory. Rasumofsky had to use other funds as well. The reconstruction, which lasted several years, then brought severe limitations in terms of materials, especially in the interior.
For example, stucco lustro was used instead of marble. Rasumofsky did manage to completely rebuild the palace with the Emperor’s loan; many things, especially the interior design, looked different. The art treasures and scientific curiosities that the tireless collector had collected over decades — including paintings by Raffael, Rubens, van Dyck, Correggio and works by Canova — were lost forever.
Am 23. September 1836 starb Rasumofsky, 88 Jahre alt, infolge von Wassersucht an Lungenlähmung. Seine Schwägerin, Lulu von Thürheim, hatte ihn bis zuletzt gepflegt. Die Witwe Rasumofskys, Fürstin Konstantine, verkaufte nach dem Tod ihres Mannes das Palais am 31. Dezember 1838 an Fürst Alois Josef von Liechtenstein um 190.000 fl. und eine Leibrente von 12.000 fl. Dem Fürsten Liechtenstein diente das Palais eigentlich nur als Interimsaufenthalt, bis sein Palais in der Inneren Stadt adaptiert war. Rund zehn Jahre nachdem er das Rasumofskypalais erworben hatte, überließ er es dem Staat in Miete, der in den Räumen die im Jahr 1849 gegründete k. k. geologische Reichsanstalt, das erste derartige Institut auf dem Kontinent, unterbrachte. Bis 1873 wurde dieser Mietvertrag erneuert; in diesem Jahr kaufte der Staat das Palais um 640.000 fl. an, und damit hat die Geologische Anstalt bis heute eine Unterbringung bekommen. Bei dem Einzug der (wie sie später genannt wurde) Geologischen Bundesanstalt in das Rasumofskypalais wurden jedoch nicht alle Räume dem Institut zur Verfügung gestellt. Eine Zeitlang war auch eine k. k. Oberrealschule hier eingerichtet, bis diese Schule in der aufgelassenen Tabakfabrik unter den Weißgerbern (Radetzkystraße) installiert wurde, wo sie sich heute noch befindet. Aber auch Schüler eines Realgymnasiums waren hier einige Zeit provisorisch untergebracht, bis für sie 1877 ein Neubau des Gymnasiums in der Kundmanngasse errichtet wurde.
Famous names such as Wilhelm von Haidinger, who was director of the institute from 1849–1862, and Eduard Suesz in particular, who worked at this institute, are associated with the almost 150-year-old Geological Institute. The monument dedicated to the great geologist Suesz, which used to be in front of the Hochstrahlbrunnen, was transferred to Rasumofskygasse, where the monument unveiling took place on June 12, 1951.
The Palais was badly damaged during the war of 1944, and restoration work on the building was completed in 1951
