Destruction imminent!

Hofburg: Security center instead of architectural jewel?

The unique Montur depot is to be destroyed.(Bild: Hertha Hurnaus)

The Montur Depot in the Vienna Hofburg is in danger. It is to make way for a security center for the presidential chancellery. The Advisory Council on Monuments is now protesting strongly. "Hofburg resident" Alexander van der Bellen is aware of the plans - but does not want to comment on them.

"It's like a fitted kitchen. Relocation is not possible without destruction," says Andreas Nierhaus, member of the Monument Advisory Board. As the "Krone" reported, a security center for the presidential chancellery is to be built in the listed Montur-Depot, the former checkroom of the Hofburg service. This threatens to destroy this globally unique ensemble.

Even a planned relocation would be tantamount to destruction. In the recently published report, the Advisory Council on Monuments "resolutely opposes any kind of destruction, dismemberment or transfer of this important monument and calls on all institutions and bodies involved to find a structural and functional solution that ensures the continued existence of the ensemble on site."

This is where the court servants had their checkroom.(Bild: Hertha Hurnaus)

Monica Kurzel-Runtscheiner, Director of the Wagenburg and Montur-Depot of the KHM, which has to clear its holdings from the depot, said on orf.at: "The room is the last testimony to the activities of the servants, the working people in the Hofburg, it has survived two world wars and the collapse of the monarchy and is now to give way because of a measure that could have been implemented differently."

Günter Dinhobl, President of the Austrian Heritage Council for the Cultural Heritage of Industry and Technology, is outraged: "Special attention was paid to the interior design, as the steel construction came from the famous Gridl company, the joinery from Jaray and the tiling from Villeroy & Boch."

The presidential chancellery confirms that the Federal President is aware of the project - but does not comment on it. It is "only a tenant", they say, referring to the responsible Burghauptmannschaft. They are waiting until the KHM has vacated to start planning. However, metal restorers have already been asked for an expert opinion on dismantling.