Hasner Monument

Leopold von Hasner (1818 – 1891), Minister of Education and briefly Prime Minister, was undoubtedly one of the prominent summer guests in the Ischl during the so-called “Age of Founders” (Gründerzeit), that is from 1871 to the great stock market crash of 1873. But it might still be a bit surprising that such an epic monument has been dedicated to him. The monument’s background might be the Austrian Primary School Law (Reichsvolksschulgesetz) of 1869, for which he was responsible. The law separated the school system from the influence of the Church, and was therefore fiercely opposed to by conservative circles. Hence, the monument bears the inscription: “Reformer of the elementary school” (Reformator der Volksschule). The monument is therefore not only a dedication to Hasner the person, but is more importantly a political manifesto of the contemporary “liberal” politicians who financed it, chiefly the industrial magnate Baron Leitenberger, who is honored in Ischl with a street named after him.

Although the gilded bronze relief bust was signed “Silbernagl [18]93” – being Johann Jakob Silbernagl, a well-known sculptor of the “Ringstrasse Era” --, the monument’s actual artist was supposedly Karl Waschmann, another well-known sculptor of the “Ringstrasse Era”. The Hasner Monument was unveiled on 20 July 1893.

The monument is made entirely of (partly polished) granite: a high central pylon is flanked by two lower walls with benches in a semicircle. On the pylon, there is the relief bust of Hasner (formerly gilded, today heavily weathered), framed by laurel branches with ribbons, below the inscription (in bronze letters), and underneath a small fountain with cast-bronze basin. The ribbons of the laurel branches and the water dispenser are later additions replacing lost parts.

In commemoration of Hasner, there is also a plaque at the house at Brennerstrasse 25, where he stayed during the summer months for several years. Hasner’s grave is in the cemetery of Ischl.

To the grave at the cemetery