Museums · Heldenberg

Heldenberg Memorial

The Heldenberg Memorial stands in the grounds of a castle at Kleinwetzdorf in Lower Austria. It is an open-air pantheon filled with busts and statues of Austrian rulers and military leaders. Joseph Gottfried Pargfrieder, a major supplier to the imperial army, founded the site in 1849. He claimed to be an illegitimate son of Emperor Joseph II. The memorial also includes a crypt beneath a tall obelisk.

The memorial is notable for its connection to Field Marshal Joseph Radetzky von Radetz. Radetzky died in 1858 after an accident in Milan. Emperor Franz Joseph wanted him buried in the Imperial Crypt in Vienna, but Radetzky had left instructions for Pargfrieder to bury him at Heldenberg instead. Pargfrieder had earlier settled Radetzky’s debts. The Field Marshal now rests in the crypt with Maximilian von Wimpffen and Pargfrieder himself.

Visitors find a landscaped park with statues and memorials set around the obelisk. A visitor centre was added in 2005 for the Lower Austrian state exhibition. Plans for a military invalid home with twelve soldiers and an officer were never carried out. The site remains a quiet place where history is preserved in stone and bronze.

Opening hours and admission can change with the season. Check before you go: derheldenberg.at

Sources (1)

Památník Heldenberg (Wikipedia) (CC BY-SA 4.0, adapted)

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