Anyone wishing to pay homage to one of the greatest composers of all time can visit Beethoven’s grave in Vienna. The location is verdant and beautiful, and you can almost hear his music in the air.
- Set among a cluster of famous composer graves in Vienna’s Zentralfriedhof cemetery
- Look for Grave 29 in Group 32a
- No charge to visit the cemetery (unless part of a guided tour)
- Book a concert experience* for Vienna
- See also:
Beethoven’s burial history
(The cemetery authorities take good care of the location)
Ludwig van Beethoven had the dubious pleasure of three burials.
The composer died on the 26th of March, 1827 in the Schwarzspanierhaus and was buried a couple of days later in the Währinger Ortsfriedhof (a cemetery in one of Vienna’s outlying districts).
In 1863, the authorities decided to repair the burial site. They exhumed Beethoven’s body and put it in a new and better metal coffin before burying him again.
Unfortunately, the Währinger cemetery shut in 1873, eventually converting to a park in the mid-1920s. In the meantime, the authorities decided to move Beethoven’s remains to another site.
(Beethoven’s original grave in Währing, close to where they also buried Schubert shortly after; pictured on a 1914 postcard produced by Kilophot (K. L.); Wien Museum Inv.-Nr. 233630; excerpt reproduced with permission under the terms of the CC0 licence)
So, in 1888, they dug up Beethoven again and reburied him in a special honorary grave at the Zentralfriedhof, which is Vienna’s main cemetery and home to numerous esteemed former residents of Austria’s capital.
A newspaper report on the fresh burial noted (my rough translation):
The gracious chirping of songbirds left a poignant impression as it rang out from the willows and acacias in the middle of the prayers of the clergy and among the sombre tones of the trumpets (?).
(The final resting place among the greenery and musical colleagues)
Third time lucky, one might say, as Beethoven’s been left to rest undisturbed since. Schubert suffered the same fate, but at least both composers fared better than poor Mozart.
The grave’s location and surrounding cemetery is astonishingly peaceful and, dare I say, beautiful.
Beethoven lies among flowers, shrubs, trees and other greenery. In spring or summer, bask in the sunlight, close your eyes, and you might almost hear the opening bars of Für Elise drifting through the air.
The gravestone itself is a copy of the original from the Währinger cemetery. Written on it are the following words (in German of course, so my rough translation)…
This gravestone was built to the same design as the original in the Währinger Ortsfriedhof and erected by the Association of Friends of Music in 1888 with financial help from the Imperial City Development Fund of Vienna and the Philharmonic Association
Where is Beethoven’s grave?
(Front view and inscription, which I translate above)
The Zentralfriedhof is a huge site, but Beethoven’s grave resides among a cluster of famous composers not far from the main entrance in one of the areas largely reserved for honoured “guests” only.
Look for Grave 29 in Group 32a on the cemetery maps dotted around the area. Near neighbours include Schubert, Brahms, various members of the Strauss family, and other musical luminaries like Josef Lanner or Christof Willibald Gluck. (Schönberg lies a little further away in Group 32c.)
You can find the grave very easily if you enter the cemetery through that main entrance, which is called Tor 2. Tram line 71 from the centre of town, for example, drops you right outside (and also passes close to Mozart’s grave en route).
(The grave in autumn)
Once inside, go straight ahead, through the middle of the stone arcade in front of you…towards the large Jugendstil church in the distance.
Keep your eyes on the left hand side about 100m after the arcade to spot Group 32A. The grave is a few yards from the broad path, just to the left behind a memorial to Mozart. Maps and signs along the way should help if you have any trouble.
For directions to the Zentralfriedhof itself, see the main cemetery article.
Address: Zentralfriedhof, Simmeringer Hauptstraße 234, 1110 Vienna