Schmelz

The Schmelz is a broad open space in Vienna’s 15th district, once used for military parades and drills. It stretches between the Thaliastraße, the Gürtel ring road and the Westbahn railway line. The name lives on in the Schmelzbrücke that carries the railway over the site. Long ago it was fertile farmland with rich loess soil, first recorded in 1309 as ‘Smeltz im Preitensewer aigen’. The site became a parade ground in 1847 when the city bought part of it from Rustendorf. Before then cavalry had practised here, and by 1835 guidebooks already noted regular drills. The move was made because the old exercise ground on the Josefstädter Glacis raised too much dust. After the First World War the military use ended and the area was gradually opened for housing, gardens and sport. A memorial park now marks the former cemetery where the victims of the 1848 revolution were buried. Today the Schmelz is best known for its allotments and sports grounds. A water reservoir built in 1991 lies beneath one playing field, while the old valve chamber now hosts exhibitions and events. The Meiselmarkt occupies the former reservoir building. In the north stands the Graf-Radetzky-Kaserne, and nearby the Stadthalle hosts concerts and sports. Small cultural events take place at the Schutzhaus ‘Zukunft’, where a stone commemorates Franz Siller and a plaque recalls President Adolf Schärf’s long years as a gardener here.