Waisenhauskirche

The Waisenhauskirche stands in Mödling, a town east of Vienna in Lower Austria. Built in the late 19th century as part of a larger orphanage complex, its späthistorist style echoes English college architecture. The church sits on land once occupied by St Martin’s church and the old town cemetery. The orphanage was founded by Josef Schöffel and financed largely by the anatomist Josef Hyrtl, whose bequest of nearly 600,000 gulden made the project possible. By 1906 the complex reached its greatest size, housing hundreds of children and shaping the eastern quarter now called the Schöffelstadt.

The site is notable for its former residents, among them the poet Josef Weinheber and the composer Rudolf Knarr. Edwin Grienauer, an Olympic medallist in medal engraving, also grew up here. During the Nazi era the building became linked to the Spiegelgrund institute, where children deemed ‘unworthy of life’ were killed. Archives record 330 transfers from Spiegelgrund to Mödling that saved young lives. Two survivors, Rudolf Karger and Friedrich Zawrel, later testified to these events.

Visitors find the restored church at the centre of a quadrangle of former orphanage buildings. The surrounding streets carry the names of Hyrtl and Schöffel. Inside, the späthistorist detailing remains visible. The churchyard once held the old cemetery, traces of which survive beneath the lawn. A quiet square, the Hyrtlplatz, lies before the entrance. The ensemble offers a place to walk and reflect on the building’s layered history.