Outer Vienna

Beethoven was buried on 29 March 1827 in the Währinger cemetery, west of Vienna.

On 22 June 1888, after it was decided to close the cemetery and turn it into a public park, the coffin of Beethoven, along with that of Franz Schubert, was moved to the city's main cemetery, the Zentralfriedhof, which had been opened in 1874. 

Beethoven's gravestone is identical, though larger, to the original gravestone that still stands in the former Währinger cemetery (now the Schubert Park).

It consists of a simple white marble obelisk, with a gold harp on it (echoing Grillparzer's funeral oration, "...the harp is hushed"), and the single word in black letters, "Beethoven".

On the day my wife Bonnie and I visited it, there were fresh flowers on the grave. As I stood contemplating this Titan among men, into whose life I had delved so deeply, Bonnie wandered off.

After a few moments she said: "Come and see what I have found."
I said: "No, I must just stay here -".
"Come and look," she said.

She had found another grave, just a few yards away, facing Beethoven's. It was his lifelong friend Nanette Streicher, who had done so much to help him in his many illnesses, who had often found new lodgings for him, who had tried to bring some order into his frequently chaotic life.

"There you are," I said, "she's still looking after him."

© John Suchet