The third President of the National Council, Norbert Hofer (FPÖ), who had been friends with the architect for many years, will give a eulogy. The actual funeral will then take place in the afternoon in the presence of close family and friends.
Photo gallery: Richard Lugner – a life in the spotlight
++ ARCHIVE IMAGE ++ CONSTRUCTION AND SOCIETY L…WE RICHARD LUGNER DIED (Photo: MAX SLOVENCIK (APA)) Bild 1/58
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Politicians from all parties expected
The public funeral ceremony will begin on August 31 at 8 a.m. with the laying out of Richard Lugner’s coffin in St. Stephen’s Cathedral. The ceremony, led by cathedral pastor Toni Faber, is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. The family did not want to announce who would be attending from official Austria, but “politicians from all parties are expected.”
When they leave St. Stephen’s Cathedral at around 10 a.m., the Deutschmeister, who have accompanied the architect musically for years, will play for their unofficial favorite conductor one last time.
Funeral procession past the State Opera
After the ceremony, the mourners will take Lugner’s coffin in a procession of several cars to visit the architect’s two largest stages. First, the journey will take them along the Ring to the Vienna State Opera, where Lugner made his annual grand entrance with star guests at the Opera Ball, until around 10:30 a.m. “He shaped the ball like no one else,” said the family.
Then we continue to Lugner City until around 11.45 a.m., which the deceased built into one of the most successful shopping centers in the country, despite all the initial predictions of doom. Until recently, there was hardly a day when Lugner was not present in his office on the third floor.
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The public part of the funeral service will then end in Lugner City. The public will still have the opportunity to sign the condolence book in the shopping center. The Himmelblau funeral home has also arranged for the family set up an online condolence book. Here you can say goodbye to Richard Lugner with personal words and express your condolences. Richard Lugner’s last guest at the Opera Ball, US actress Priscilla Presley, has now done so. “That was a very nice gesture,” said the family in thanks.
The actual burial will take place in a crypt at the Grinzinger Cemetery in Vienna-Döbling, in the closest circle of family and friends, after a memorial service in the Kaasgraben church. The family is asking the public and media representatives to “respect their privacy”. Lugner himself chose the approximately 200 invited guests before his death.
Lugner died on August 12th in his villa in Vienna-Döbling at the age of 91. Before that, he had struggled with health problems on several occasions and recently had to undergo major heart surgery.