Sanatorium Purkersdorf

A "Gesamtkunstwerk" of the Art Nouveau

About 2 km from the city center towards the east is the most famous cultural monument of Purkersdorf, namely the "Sanatorium" that was designed by Josef Hoffmann, a founding member of the Vienna Secession, as an architectural "Gesamtkunstwerk" around 1904-1905. It was commissioned by the entrepreneur, art collector and patron Victor Zuckerkandl, founder of several iron & steel industrial works in what was then Silesia, now southern Poland.

An Art Nouveau Gesamtkunstwerk

The Sanatorium is considered to be the first major work by the then 35-year-old architect and at the same time one of his main works. Josef Hoffmann saw the building as a Gesamtkunstwerk, because he not only planned the building, but also the entire furniture.

The building was renovated in 1995 (outside) and in 2003 (inside), through which the original state could be largely restored. The sanatorium is now used as a care home for the elderly.

Further information:

• Wikipedia
• Jugendstil Wien Objektsammlung