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Johann Werfring wrote on 27/28 under the title “Rare Relics of the Vienna World Exhibition”. May 2023 in the "Wiener Zeitung" about the few structural relics from 1873. The rotunda that towers over everything was destroyed by flames in 1937, only the so-called Prate studios and today's dairy on Prater Hauptallee remain. However, the situation is different with exhibition objects. Many treasures from distant countries came to Vienna back then and can still be viewed today.
When it came to geosciences, the k.k., founded in 1849, was the leader. Geological Reichsanstalt (today: Geosphere Austria) with its headquarters in the noble Palais Rasumofsky (Wien Landstrasse) is known far beyond the borders of the monarchy. With Franz von Hauer (1822 to 1899) the geologists had a committed and extremely busy director. Hauer was at the world exhibition several times during the year, where the Reichsanstalt displayed numerous exhibits, rocks and geological maps. This also included the geological map of the monarchy in twelve sheets, which was created under his aegis over several years of work.
The geologist Heinrich Wolf (1825 to 1882) was also extremely committed; in 1872 he wrote to all quarry owners in the monarchy to send samples of building stone "consisting of cubes with an edge length of six inches". "This collection, which was supported by all sides and was put together by Bergrath Wolf in the short period of barely a year, if not completely, but at least representing the most important events, was arranged geographically by country," according to the International Exhibition Newspaper, February 18, 1874.
Today the colorful rock cubes are in the Mauerbach Charterhouse (Lower Austria), where they are used by the Federal Monuments Office for historical research. Some are still in the possession of Geosphere Austria at the NEUENGASSE location; they form a base for an eagle made of artificial stone that was in the basement of the Rasumofsky Palace.
On Tuesday, October 7, 1873, Hauer returned from his summer retreat south of Wiener Neustadt in Lower Austria ("Moving from Schleinz to Vienna"), according to his diary entry. His attention was now on the World's Fair, which ended on November 2nd; The aim was to secure the best pieces for the in-house museum. The geologists had a museum in the Razumofsky Palace that was open to the public. Listed under "Vienna's sights" in the Vienna World Exhibition newspaper in 1873, it was open on Tuesdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Also mentioned were the predecessor institutions of today's Natural History Museum, the Natural History Museum (Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.), or the k.k. zoological and the k.k. Mineralogical Court Cabinet (weekdays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.).
Hauer's diary reads like a countdown. October 23rd: "Most of the Agriculture Ministry's exhibits have already been given away. We can choose from what's left." October 30th: "Numerous responses from exhibitors who donate their items to us." October 30: "Reviewed the writings with [Heinrich] Wolf regarding the gifts promised to the institution." November 1st: “Again, numerous donations from the World Exhibition arrive.” November 2nd: "With Moisisovics [Edmund v. Mojsisovics (1839 to 1907); geologist] and Stache [Guido Stache (1833 to 1921); geologist] to the world exhibition, there we meet Wolf, who has acquired a lot for the institution, especially in the Schwarzenberg Pavilion." Here Wolf was able to acquire a beautifully carved graphite work of art for the institution with the coat of arms of Prince Schwarzenberg and the year 1873, entitled Archaic Form - to use Hauer's words.
Heinrich Wolf wrote about the world exhibition in 1877: "Gneiss slabs of really huge dimensions were exhibited on the cover and paving slabs by the Giunta minaria di Torino, the Fontana brothers and the Ganna Severino company in Luserna, more to show the quality and uniformity of the material, which breaks down into relatively very thin slabs in a very flat surface for the length and width dimensions, than to expose the real commercial goods. They were Plates measuring 7.35 meters long, 1.40 meters wide and 0.18 meters thick can be seen next to others measuring 4.7 meters long, 2.5 meters wide and only 0.02 meters thick."
The monolithic slab mentioned here, which is more than seven meters long and almost one and a half meters wide, was placed in the garden of the Rasumofsky Palace after the World Exhibition. There it was a popular spot at meetings of geologists, where the who's who gathered, including the American geologist Eugen Shoemaker. When the geologists moved in 2005, the stone table came with them to the NEUENSGASSE, where the legendary "stone table festivals" continued.
Not just the geologists of Razumofskygasse but also the mineralogists of the k.k. mineralogical court cabinets, which were located in the Augustinian wing of the Hofburg on Josefsplatz (Inner City), were successful. In the fall of 1873 they secured many large objects that can still be seen today in the exhibition halls of the Natural History Museum on Ringstrasse, which opened in 1889.
In addition, Francis v. Vivenot in the exhibition catalog (1873) about mining and metallurgy: "As far as Hungary and the lands of the Hungarian crown are concerned, a collection of mining products and minerals was exhibited by the Royal Hungarian Ministry of Finance, and a mighty salt pyramid was exhibited by the Royal Hungarian Mining Directorate at Marmaros-Szigeth." The brightly lit obelisk, secured today with four steel bands, can be found in Hall II and was described in the entry book of the Mineral Cabinet on December 20, 1873 as follows: "Rock salt. An obelisk of 2⅔ metres. height, white translucent medium-grained rock salt of remarkable purity and clear layering. Weight approx. 30 cents. From Ronaszek in Transylvania [today: Coștiui, Romania] Mineral worth 400 fl. [Florin = guilder, approx. 5,570 euros] acquired as a gift from the Imperial and Royal Ministry of Finance in Pest." The entry in question in the inventory book was a matter for the boss; it comes from Gustav Tschermak Edler von Seysenegg (1836 to 1927). The mineralogist completed his habilitation at the University of Vienna in 1861 and became a.o. in 1868. Professor and 1868 director at the k.k. Mineralogical Court Cabinet (today: Mineralogical-Petrographic Department of the Natural History Museum Vienna), before he was appointed professor of mineralogy and petrography at the University of Vienna in 1873.
A remarkable block came from India as a well-traveled object and was installed in Room III. "Through the kindness of the Director of the Indian Geological Survey in Calcutta, Mr. Oldham, the museum came into possession of the colossal 1½ meter high and meter wide salt block of flesh-red color from the Mayo Mines in Penjab in India. It weighs forty centners and comes from the Silurian Formation [Earth Age]." (International Exhibition Newspaper, February 18, 1874). Tschermak stated the value at 800 guilders, which made the object twice as valuable as the obelisk mentioned above.
The fact that a block came to Vienna from far away India is due to the good scientific contacts between the two countries. The geologist Ferdinand Stoliczka (1838 to 1874), who trained in Vienna under Eduard Suess (1831 to 1914), deserves particular mention. In 1860/61 he was a short-term employee at the Mineralogical Court Cabinet, then came to the Geological Reichsanstalt before going to Calcutta (now Kolkata) in 1862 for the Indian Geological Service, which was founded in 1851 under the direction of Thomas Oldham (1816 to 1878), and always remained in close contact with his homeland.
Finally, in front of the middle window in Room I of the Natural History Museum, you will notice a stalagmite from the Adelsberg Cave in Carniola (today: Postojna Cave in Slovenia). An associated mural of the Adelsberg Grotto can also be seen in this hall. The extensive cave system with its wealth of stalactites was opened up to tourists as a show cave in 1872 with a railway. Adolf Schmidl (1802 to 1863), doyen of speleology, described them in detail from the 1850s. Then as now, this underground natural wonder was and is a must-see. Of course, the newly developed tourism hotspot was also present in Vienna.
Take a look at the "Illustrirte Zeitung" from October 25, 1873. Here, at the pavilion of the Austrian Ministry of Agriculture, a replica of the Karst is mentioned and described in detail: "In the middle is a delicate replica of the famous Adelsberg Grotto in Carniola with original stalactites." The editor at the time probably confused stalagmite and stalactite and one can assume that it was the stalagmite that can be seen in the museum today. Tschermak's detailed entry in the inventory book from 1873: "Stalactite. A main individual 2½ meters high, with two small individuals on it. The whole block is white in color and completely pure. From the Adelsberg Grotto, mineral worth 1000 fl. as a gift from the grotto administration in Adelsberg."
The first installation of this stalagmite and the above-mentioned rock salt obelisk (here still without a base) in the collection rooms of the k.k. The mineralogical court cabinets in the Hofburg show the mural on the right in Hall V in an artistic revision of the original by Eduard Ameseder by the painter Farid Sabha from 1983. (Thomas Hofmann, Vera M. F. Hammer, November 16, 2023)