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Moriz von Kuffner
Moriz von Kuffner (30 January 1854 – 5 March 1939) was a Jewish-Austrian industrialist, art collector, mountaineer and philanthropist. From the 1880s to the early 1910s he made a fortune in the brewery business, and became a significant sponsor of Vienna's social and cultural life as well as a mentor of astronomy. Moriz von Kuffner was forced to sell his Austrian assets and to leave Vienna in 1938.
He was born in Ottakring, Lower Austria (then a suburb of Vienna, now a city district), the son of Ignaz Kuffner, member of a Jewish industrialist dynasty from Lundenburg, who (together with his cousin Jacob) had taken over the brewery in Ottakring in 1850. Ignaz Kuffner had been mayor of Ottakring from 1869 to 1876, and was elevated to minor Austrian nobility (Edler von Kuffner) in 1878.[citation needed]
Moriz von Kuffner studied chemistry at the K.K. Polytechnisches Institut (the predecessor of the Technical University of Vienna). When his father died in 1882, he upgraded and greatly extended the brewery he had inherited. In 1902 he transformed it into a joint stock company, with his cousins Wilhelm Kuffner and Karl Kuffner de Diószegh as partners. He was also president of the sugar refinery in Diószeg in western Slovakia and of the Steinbruck brewery in Budapest; was among the largest owners of real estate in Vienna; owned significant collections of art, including many works by Albrecht Dürer; and was a founding member of the Musikverein. From 1900 to 1919, he was an executive director of the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde Wien. In addition, he was an enthusiastic and highly reputed alpinist who scaled most of the alpine summits of 4,000 m height and above, establishing new routes on the Eiger, Mont Blanc, Mont Pelvoux, Mont Maudit (on which the well-known Kuffner or Frontier ridge is named after him) and others.
Moriz von Kuffner was so fascinated by astronomy that he sponsored the construction, equipment and operation of an observatory on some of his property on the slope of the Gallitzinberg, where at the time of its construction (1884–1892), the Wienerwald reached almost down into Ottakring. This Kuffner observatory is his most important surviving legacy. Kuffner named asteroids 242 Kriemhild and 243 Ida, by courtesy of their discoverer Johann Palisa.
In 1887, he had a representative residence (the Palais Kuffner) built in Ottakring. It quickly became an attraction for Viennese society, culture, and politics.
World War I dealt a significant economic blow to the Kuffner family, and essentially ended the era of their sponsorship. Brewery product sales recovered only very slowly, and profits never returned to the levels seen during the "century of the brewers."
During the 1880s and 1890s, Moriz von Kuffner became one of the leading mountaineers in Austria. As a keen and recognised alpinist, he conquered most of the Alpine four-thousanders, blazing new routes, some of which were later named after him, like the Kuffner Ridge (Kuffnergrat) on Mont Maudit and the Kuffner Pillar (Kuffnerpfeiler) on the Piz Palü.p. 35 He was accompanied on most of his expeditions by mountain guides, Alexander Burgener, J. M. Biner (also Biener), J. Furrer, A. Kalbermatten, Cl. Perren, Christian Ranggetiner, E. Rubesoir, J. P. Ruppen and Martin Schocher.
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Moriz von Kuffner
Moriz von Kuffner (30 January 1854 – 5 March 1939) was a Jewish-Austrian industrialist, art collector, mountaineer and philanthropist. From the 1880s to the early 1910s he made a fortune in the brewery business, and became a significant sponsor of Vienna's social and cultural life as well as a mentor of astronomy. Moriz von Kuffner was forced to sell his Austrian assets and to leave Vienna in 1938.
He was born in Ottakring, Lower Austria (then a suburb of Vienna, now a city district), the son of Ignaz Kuffner, member of a Jewish industrialist dynasty from Lundenburg, who (together with his cousin Jacob) had taken over the brewery in Ottakring in 1850. Ignaz Kuffner had been mayor of Ottakring from 1869 to 1876, and was elevated to minor Austrian nobility (Edler von Kuffner) in 1878.[citation needed]
Moriz von Kuffner studied chemistry at the K.K. Polytechnisches Institut (the predecessor of the Technical University of Vienna). When his father died in 1882, he upgraded and greatly extended the brewery he had inherited. In 1902 he transformed it into a joint stock company, with his cousins Wilhelm Kuffner and Karl Kuffner de Diószegh as partners. He was also president of the sugar refinery in Diószeg in western Slovakia and of the Steinbruck brewery in Budapest; was among the largest owners of real estate in Vienna; owned significant collections of art, including many works by Albrecht Dürer; and was a founding member of the Musikverein. From 1900 to 1919, he was an executive director of the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde Wien. In addition, he was an enthusiastic and highly reputed alpinist who scaled most of the alpine summits of 4,000 m height and above, establishing new routes on the Eiger, Mont Blanc, Mont Pelvoux, Mont Maudit (on which the well-known Kuffner or Frontier ridge is named after him) and others.
Moriz von Kuffner was so fascinated by astronomy that he sponsored the construction, equipment and operation of an observatory on some of his property on the slope of the Gallitzinberg, where at the time of its construction (1884–1892), the Wienerwald reached almost down into Ottakring. This Kuffner observatory is his most important surviving legacy. Kuffner named asteroids 242 Kriemhild and 243 Ida, by courtesy of their discoverer Johann Palisa.
In 1887, he had a representative residence (the Palais Kuffner) built in Ottakring. It quickly became an attraction for Viennese society, culture, and politics.
World War I dealt a significant economic blow to the Kuffner family, and essentially ended the era of their sponsorship. Brewery product sales recovered only very slowly, and profits never returned to the levels seen during the "century of the brewers."
During the 1880s and 1890s, Moriz von Kuffner became one of the leading mountaineers in Austria. As a keen and recognised alpinist, he conquered most of the Alpine four-thousanders, blazing new routes, some of which were later named after him, like the Kuffner Ridge (Kuffnergrat) on Mont Maudit and the Kuffner Pillar (Kuffnerpfeiler) on the Piz Palü.p. 35 He was accompanied on most of his expeditions by mountain guides, Alexander Burgener, J. M. Biner (also Biener), J. Furrer, A. Kalbermatten, Cl. Perren, Christian Ranggetiner, E. Rubesoir, J. P. Ruppen and Martin Schocher.
Selection of first ascents: