Heldenberg is a specific building, at the same time a monument to the militarism of the mid-19th century and the ambition of its builder, who got rich by supplying food, fabric and footwear for the army of the merchant Josef Pargfrieder. He was friends with Field Marshal Josef Radetzky von Radetz (it is to him that the famous march of Johann Strauss is dedicated) and wanted to arrange a pantheon in honor of this and other great Austrian military leaders modeled on Leo von Klenze's "Walhalla" near Regensburg. This is how the “mountain of heroes” appeared - Heldenberg: a park ensemble with busts and statues of Austrian emperors and outstanding commanders from the Middle Ages, there are about 150 of them. Pargfrieder, who also paid off all their debts. The emperor could not ignore this patriotic contribution, so he was forced to elevate the entrepreneur to a noble rank, which he sought.
In the center of the ensemble there is a “pillar hall” where veterans were supposed to live (according to the principle of the Parisian House of Invalids). Now he is busy with a military-historical exposition, including the Radetzky Museum. Next to it, a new building was built according to the project of Peter Ebner, where exhibitions can be held on any, not only "memorial" themes. It is important to note that the building appeared as part of the measures to renovate Heldenberg, which at the end of the 20th century fell into some desolation. Now there, in addition to the memorial itself, there is a reconstruction of a Neolithic village and a necropolis (their remains were found nearby), a museum of old cars and even a "show gala" of Lipizzan horses.
Since the new museum building is located in the very center of the memorial complex, it is almost completely hidden under the ground, or rather, it is inscribed in a low rampart. From the side of the "pillared hall" the volume of the entrance protrudes: as if a block of glass and concrete floating above the ground, on the opposite side there is an exit arch. At the top of the rampart, three more concrete volumes can be seen: sunlight enters through them.
The interior is a neutral space, avoiding, at the same time, the scheme typical for a modern museum with white halls-"boxes" flooded with electric lighting. Here, the rooms flowing into each other are illuminated by diffused overhead light: this is a quiet world, very different from the late classical bravura of the memorial above. The architect was striving for this effect.
