Thonetschlössl in

Mödling Mödling () is the capital of the Austrian Mödling (district), district of the same name located approximately 15 km south of Vienna. Mödling lies in Lower Austria's industrial zone (Industrieviertel). The Mödlingbach, a brook which rises ...

, Austria is a symmetric building with three floors. The building's architecture is mainly influenced by the Late-

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

style. Currently the Thonetschlössl houses the local museum of Mödling.

The history of the building

In 1631, Johann Baptist Verda von Verdenberg donated a

Capuchin monastery The Order of Friars Minor Capuchin (; postnominal abbr. OFMCap) is a religious order of Franciscan friars within the Catholic Church, one of three " First Orders" that reformed from the Franciscan Friars Minor Observant (OFMObs, now OFM), the ot ...

to Mödling. In 1683, the monastery was destroyed in the Turkish War, but eventually rebuilt in 1684. Two years later, in 1686, Giacomo Caliano bought the monastery to use a factory to produce silk and towels. From 1806 to 1821 the monastery was used for chemical bleaching, but later became a theater. In 1833, the entomologist

Ernst Heeger Ernst Heeger (1783, Perchtoldsdorf1866, Laxenburg), was an Austrian amateur entomologist. He was a graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, a "Privatcadet" in the Napoleonic Wars, and from 1816 an employee of the Magistrat (administrative ...

bought the monastery and continued to use it for a silk factory. A few years later, in 1845, the countess Eise von Salm, who was a member of the Liechtenstein clan, bought the monastery and rebuilt it to look like a castle. In 1889, the Thonet family bought the castle-like building, hence the name Thonetschlössl ("Thonet Castle"). In 1931, the city of

bought the Thonetschlössl to use for the museum of Mödling, which had existed elsewhere since 1904.

The museum park

The museum park is a national heritage site, and opened to the public in 1957. The park itself contains a Baroque fountain basin, a

Pietà The Pietà (; meaning "pity", "compassion") is a subject in Christian art depicting the Mary (mother of Jesus), Blessed Virgin Mary cradling the mortal body of Jesus Christ after his Descent from the Cross. It is most often found in sculpture. ...

group on a pedestal from the year 1756, three grave stones from the 16th and 17th century and a fragment of a gothic pillar from 1529.

Museum collections

The museum documents the historical emergence of the city of Mödling. There are also rocks, fossils and historical artifacts, like biographies of famous citizens of the city of Mödling or weapons from the Turkish Wars, displayed. The museum also owns one of Austria's first Avars collections. Some parts of the museum are originally from Oskar Spiegel's private palaeontological collection, which was acquired by the city of Mödling. Furthermore, another section of the museum consists of

Joseph Hyrtl Josef Hyrtl (7 December 1810 – 17 July 1894) was an Austrian anatomist. Biography Hyrtl was born at Kismarton, Hungary (now Eisenstadt, Austria). He began his medical studies in Vienna in 1831, having received his preliminary education in ...

's library, which contains books and writings by famous writers like

Paracelsus Paracelsus (; ; 1493 – 24 September 1541), born Theophrastus von Hohenheim (full name Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim), was a Swiss physician, alchemist, lay theologian, and philosopher of the German Renaissance. H ...

and Johannes Wesling. These were digitized and are now available on the Internet to the general public.

References

External links

* {{coord, 48.0867, N, 16.2879, E, source:wikidata, display=title Museums in Lower Austria Mödling Baroque palaces in Austria Baroque monasteries Former Christian monasteries in Austria Baroque castles in Austria Local museums in Austria Historic house museums in Austria Buildings and structures completed in 1684 Museums established in 1931