Zentralfriedhof, Vienna

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This long tip was written in French and separately in English at a time where VT limited the number of characters.

Rien de tel par une belle journée ensoleillée que de visiter cet immense cimetière d'accès facile par le tram 71 du terminus de la place Schwarzenberg.
Les tombes des compositeurs "Musiker" sont faciles à trouver, à gauche dans la grande allée centrale qui mène à l'église Karl Lueger.
Lorsque j'arrivai à la tombe de Schubert, mon musicien préféré, il y avait là un petit groupe de touristes Asiatiques fort bruyants et pour ajouter encore au bruit une tondeuse à gazon qui faisait le tour des parterres.
Les circonstances idéales pour un dialogue outre-tombe avec Schubert, Beethoven, Brahms ou Mozart n'étant donc pas réunies je fis un tour vers les tombes "bourgeoises", manifestement plus monumentales que celles des musiciens, pour y lire quelques épitaphes en attendant que les touristes et la tondeuse à gazon s'éloignent des musiciens. Je découvris ainsi une fort belle tombe d'un monsieur qui était coiffeur à Vienne.
Ce devait être un illustre coiffeur à succès étant donné l'allure grandiose de sa tombe.
Je me suis dit qu'il valait mieux financièrement être coiffeur à Vienne que musicien. Mozart ne me contredira pas.
Le calme étant revenu autour des "Musiker" je pus rendre hommage à ces créateurs de beauté en caressant discrètement le coin de leur tombe comme d'autres amoureux de musique avant moi.

The Zentralfriedhof (Central Cemetery) is Vienna's main cemetery and tombs of famous people. It's a very large cemetery and a bit off city. Make sure you go there on a sunny day since it's a large place and also demands a lot of your time. Opened in 1874, this enormous cemetery spans 2.4 square kilometres with 3.3 million interred here. It is also second largest cemetery, after Hamburg's Ohlsdorf Cemetery (more than 4 km²), by area and largest by number of interred in Europe.

Interred in the Zentralfriedhof are notables such as Beethoven and Schubert who were moved there in 1888, and Johannes Brahms.

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A lot of graves of famous persons- I saw graves of musicians and painters! I didn't find the writers...
To see the graves of Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, Strauss and others, you have to walk straightforward in direction to the Church; you'll see a signboard "musiker". The graves are on your left side. On the right side I saw the graves of famous painters like Amerling, Hans Makart, and others.

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Zentralfriedhof or Central Cemetery is huge. Many notable Austrians are buried here and words cannot express how massive the place is. Among those buried here are the composers Gluck, Beethoven, Lanner, Strauss I, Strauss II, Schubert, Brahms, Wolf and Schonberg. They are all buried in thier own section just off the main avenue. There is also a memorial to Mozart on the site.

To get here, take tram number 71 from Schwarzenbergplatz and get off at the second Zentralfriedhof stop.

I walked about Vienna's Zentralfreidhoff in search of Schubert and Beethoven's final resting places. I had no map and it took me 2 hours walking through the cold Vienna snow. But I was relieved when I found it.

Prior to finding Beethoven and Schubert, I took this picture. It captured my peace and solitude as I was only one of a small number who dared to walk about the cold Vienna winter snows to find a grave.

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Day 3 : Zentralfriedhof

After I had visited the Schonbrunn, I wanted to visit the Central Cemetery (Zentralfriedhof).

This cemetery is easily to reach with public transport, first by U-bahn and then a short tram ride.

As up to me, this cemetery is a bit off the beaten track, I have putted my tips in my “off the beaten track” - Chapter.

Anyway it is well worth to visit this cemetery, it is so big, and there are so many beautiful tombs to see (of important people).

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This is Austria's largest graveyard and it contains about two and a half million graves. It was opened in 1874 and is on the cities southern outskirts. The central section contains the graves of artists, composers, writers, architects and local politicians. The composers lie together in the Musiker section.
A memorial to Mozart in the Central Cemetery. Mozart was buried in an unmarked grave in the St Marx graveyard on Leberstrasse. He was buried during a two year period when re-useable coffins were used and people were buried in mass graves so there is no personal grave.
Schubert admired Beethoven very much. He helped carry Beethoven's coffin during his funeral, within a year he himself was dead. I love his "Wintereisse" the music is hauntingly beautiful.
It is also a great place to park and then take the tram into the centre of Vienna.

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There is a small section of the zentralfriedhof that is the final resting place of some of the most famous classical composers. Here you will find the graves of Beethovan, Strauss, Brahms, and Schubert. There is also a small memorial to Mozart, who is buried in St. Matthew's Church. The Composers' Corner is located on the left-hand side of the main pathway through the cemetery...I believe it's around section 32.
Please be sensitive to the fact that this is a cemetery that is still being used by the Viennese today. Don't be an obnoxious tourist.