Architectural jewel in danger

Vienna’s Hofburg Palace: the Montur Depot is threatened with destruction

It's like being in Robert Altman's "Gosford Park" or "Downton Abbey": the Montur Depot is a globally unique architectural monument. Now it is to become a security center.

(Bild: Hertha Hurnaus)

A unique architectural ensemble: the depot, where the servants once dressed up for the Emperor and Empress, is soon to make way for a security center. 

"Our job is to work with the owners to find the required solutions - but within a framework that is compatible with the listed building and in the public interest," says Wolfgang Salcher, Vienna's chief conservationist. 

Where the imperial servants once kept their livery.

(Bild: Hertha Hurnaus)

He will soon have to deal with the plan of the Republic, the owner of the Hofburg, to turn the "Montur-Depot" into a security center for the presidential chancellery. This would probably mean the destruction of premises that do not exist anywhere else in the world. An "ensemble that offers an insight into the otherwise barely documented reality of the lives of courtly servants: the livery wardrobe of the employees of the Obersthofmeisteramt. At the beginning of the 20th century, a self-supporting two-storey iron and steel construction with surrounding wardrobe boxes and air-permeable grating floors was created here, which is an extraordinary example of early industrial interior architecture," write Monument Advisory Board members Artur Rosenauer and Andreas Nierhaus about the miracle of space, which is still completely original down to the last tile.

Soon to be history? Insight into the Montur depot.

(Bild: Hertha Hurnaus )

Wolfgang Salcher is informed about the conversion plans. The project, which he will have to review, is still in its infancy, reports Christian Gepp, press spokesman for the Burghauptmannschaft. As the owner's representative, it is coordinating the project for the Republic: "The Montur depot is located directly next to the main entrance to the presidential chancellery. The plan is to respond to contemporary security concerns and create space there. We will endeavor to preserve the historic interior and set it up in a new location - that is the current state of planning." It is not known where this will be.

Around 1890, the self-supporting two-storey iron and steel construction with surrounding wardrobe boxes and air-permeable grating floors was created

(Bild: Hertha Hurnaus)

A solution that preserves the building is also not in sight. Gepp even argues that the depot "is not that old in relation to the history of the Hofburg".

The bridge construction company Ig. Gridl built this extraordinary example of early industrial interior architecture. The listed archive rooms of the House, Court and State Archives also originate from this company

(Bild: Hertha Hurnaus)

Salcher speaks of the changed security situation, calling the current situation for the security staff in the President's Office a catastrophe. Nevertheless, relocation is not a priority goal for him, although "weighing up all the arguments, it would be an option that could be considered. But the primary approach is always to leave the monument where it is". For Rosenauer and Nierhaus, too, relocating the whole or even just parts of it "would not be a solution in terms of monument protection".