Museum Judenplatz
Vienna, Austria
Jabornegg & Pálffy

A painful part of European history is memorialized in this museum

© Mag.art Werner Kaligofsky

For more photos click on 'photos & drawings' above. To see the people and products behind this project click on 'people & products.'

The Museum Judenplatz is a Holocaust memorial centered around a box-like sculptural element designed by Rachael Whiteread, which is set within an urban square in Vienna. The museum includes an archaeological excavation of a synagogue, which had been destroyed in 1421, and an exhibition on the life of the Jewish community in the middle ages, housed in the adjacent Misrachi building.

Both the square and the surrounding street space had to be redesigned into a closed surface free of traffic. Consequently, the granite pavement typical for the inner city was used as the predominant material, and new structures like transitions and groins are accentuated with a change of dimension. The square is artificially lit from the roofs of the surrounding buildings. This guarantees even lighting of the urban space, the center of which is dominated by the memorial.

One can access the archaeological excavation site through a subterranean corridor from new exhibition rooms on the ground floor and in the basement of the Misrachi building. Taking into account the results of the excavation, the entrance leads into the center of the showroom, giving the visitor an immediate overall view of the space.
The excavated synagogue determined the location and size of the showroom. Attached in front of the new walls, a galvanized brass plate indicates the exact boundaries of the excavation. It covers off the installations and acts as background for the material diversity of the excavated objects, without disturbingly reflecting artificial light.

Formal name of Project:
Museum Judenplatz

Location:
Vienna, Austria

Gross square footage:
Floor space: 8,580 sq ft
Surface (square/streets): 49,460 sq ft

Total construction cost:
$5 million

Owner:
City of Vienna, Historisches Museum der Stadt Wien

Architect:
Jabornegg & Pálffy
Wiedner Hauptstraße 17/2
1040 Vienna, Austria
Tel. +43 1 5055448
Fax +43 1 5055448-16,