The Albrecht Fountain

Vienna and the Danube

When the Augustinian Bastion is torn down along with the other remnants of Vienna’s old city wall in 1860, the part bearing Archduke Albrecht’s palace must remain. A new forecourt must be created since the torn down part of the Augustinian Bastion also has a driveway from Augustinerstraße up to the palace.

So between 1864 and 1868 an access ramp is built, which today encircles the palace and what remains of the Augustinian Bastion. The old driveway stood where the stairs from Augustinerstraße up onto the access ramp are now.

The Albrecht Fountain is created when the access ramp is built. The polygon encasement In the Neo-Renaissance style is by Austrian architect Moritz von Loehr (1810-1874), while Austrian sculptor Johann Meixner (1819-1872) is responsible for the fountain itself along with its white figures in Carrara marble.

The fountain forms the centre of the arrangement. 3 titans from Greek mythology are crouched on its floor and bear the main figures, the Roman river god Danubius and Vindobona, who represent the river Danube and the city of Vienna. For this reason the Albrecht Fountain is also known as the “Danubius Fountain” among the Viennese.

Apart from Danubius and Vindobona, you can also find the personifications of the most important Danube tributaries in the wall niches. They mark the Hapsburg territories at the end of the 19th century.

When the Albrecht Fountain in unveiled in 1869, there are a total of 10 figures in the wall niches next to the fountain, 5 on each side. When it is rebuilt after damages suffered in WW2, the facility is made considerably smaller.

An attempt to restore it as much as possible to its original state is not made until renovations take place in the 1980s. Today there are 4 figures in the wall niches on each side of the fountain. On the left the personifications of the Mur, Salzach, Morava and Sava rivers, on the right those of the Tisza, Rába, Enns and Traun. All the river sculptures have female characteristics by the way, apart from that of the Inn.

But where the Inn once stood an escalator now leads up from Augustinerstraße onto the access ramp. Its counterpart figure on the opposite side of the fountain in Hanuschgasse, representing the Drau river, was not put up again either.