Mural disappears

Art lovers fear cultural crime against mosaic

This mosaic has to make way for thermal insulation.(Bild: Imre Antal)

Stone by stone, a mosaic in St. Pölten is being "devoured" by gray-black polystyrene panels. The work, which is falling victim to the energy transition, may even be the work of a well-known artist. 

"When Küffer-Fritz was alive, back in the 1980s or 1990s, he took me into his confidence and guided me from the weekly Saturday market on Domplatz directly to his work of art, which he then proudly showed me. It glistened beautifully in the sun," recalls Krone reader Monika S.. The great master assured her that the design was his and that someone else had executed the meter-long work of art exactly according to his ideas.

Piece by piece, the work of art is covered up.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Imre Antal)

Shoddy insulating panels conceal art
Austria's Küffer expert and owner of the richest collection of the increasingly valuable Wilhelmsburg painter (1911 - 2001), art patron Josef Renz, does not want to commit himself to who actually worked on the façade back then. The "hunter of lost treasures" does express his regret that an important work for the state capital is being completely covered up by flimsy insulating panels - made of polystyrene to boot. 

Art in public spaces is always valuable. Because it enriches the grey urban everyday life with colorful splashes of color in every respect.

Josef Renz, Kunstmäzen

The residents' decision
The city council's culture department credibly assures us that everything has been done to preserve the mosaic, which supposedly depicts (albeit abstractly) scenes from St. Pölten. However, the tenants had opted for thermal insulation and thus the energy cost-saving option. Renz: "With good will, both would probably have been possible."