Hofburg, Vienna: Heroes' Square (Heldenplatz)

A photographic slide taken on a grey day; its colours have faded.


Heroes' Square is an unfinished part of the grandiose plan (inspired by the new boulevards of Paris) to develop the city of Vienna in the 1850s and 1860s.  It has statues of two of Austria's great military heroes.


Archduke Charles (1771-1847), the "Lion of Aspern".

The statue to the right, above the black dog, is that of Archduke Charles.  It was commissioned by his nephew, Emperor Franz Josef, and was the first statue erected in the Square.

Despite suffering from epilepsy and poor health, Charles was a military genius; equally importantly, he was a member of the imperial Habsburg family.  He had won several major victories against the French, including the Battle of Wűrzburg, and in 1809 had routed an army under Napoleon at the battle of Aspern.  However, their next encounter in battle was at Wagram, a defeat from which Charles nonetheless saved his army by organising a masterly retreat.  


Prince Eugene of Savoy (1663-1736)

His equestrian statue in Heroes' Square, can just be discerned in the middle distance, a little left of the centre of this photo.   The statue was erected in 1865, with two inscriptions: on one side, 'To the wise counsellor of three Emperors'; and on the other, 'To the glorious conqueror of Austria's enemies'

Eugene, who was born and educated in Paris, was extremely well connected: his great-uncle was Cardinal Mazarin, his mother was for a while a close associate of King Louis XIV, but was later disgraced and banished from France.

The King had decided that Eugene, a man of diminutive stature, was destined for the church, and refused his request to serve in the French army.  This would prove to be a monumental error.

Eugene went to Vienna; in the Austrian army he rose to prominence and became for several decades the nemesis of the Turks and the French.  There were numerous military campaigns to be fought and won for the Empire.  He was present at the raising of the Turks' siege of Vienna, partnered the Duke of Marlborough during the War of the Spanish Succession, and in his later years tutored the young Frederic the Great in the arts of war.


The Belvedere palace in Vienna was commissioned by Eugene as his summer palace.


[Blip added in July 2014]