Viennese Café 4

CAFÉ DEMEL - the most renowned coffeehouse in Vienna

Everything began in the year 1786 when confectionary assistant Ludwig Dehne from Wuerttemberg settled in Vienna.

He started selling frozen goods and very soon extended his production to candy, jam-filled doughnuts and Mardi Gras beignets as well as a variety of other bakery goods. And already several years after the founding, cavaliers held their trysts with beautiful Viennese women at Dehnes, enjoying the artfully formed and decorated sweets.

Ludwig Dehne's son August sold the shop in 1857 to his first assistant Christoph Demel.

His sons Josef and Carl were the ones who in the end consequentially named the confectionary “K. u. K. Hofzuckerbäcker Ch. Demel’s Söhne” (“Imperial and Royal Court Confectionary Bakery Ch. Demel’s Sons”). The renown of the confectionary Demel had already reached foreign shores and the title “K.u.k.” Court Supplier was already secured.

In 1888 the brothers Demel moved into the Palais at the Kohlmarkt as Emperor Franz Joseph ordered sanding works to be done on the city fortifications. The Demel now stands in one line with the Hofburg (castle courtyard).

The most prestigious interior decorators at the time, Portois and Fix, were given the job of designing the interior of the Demel in a Rococo style.

In 1918 the Austrian-Hungarian monarchy collapsed; in the Demel however time seemed to have stood still. Anna Demel watched with an eagle’s eye that the old traditions and order were kept to. Even though it was forbidden and penalized, Anna Demel made sure that the emblem "K. u. K. Hofzuckerbäcker" (“Imperial and Royal Court Confectionary Bakery”) remained on both the portal as well as on the chocolate boxes and candies.

Anna Demel was awarded the title of ‘Kommerzialrat’ (Councillor of Commerce) in 1952, becoming the first woman to receive this title. In 1956 her adopted daughter Klara Demel took over the reigns of the Court Confectionary Bakery.

After Klara’s death in 1965 her husband Baron Federico v. Berzeviczy-Pallavicini managed the Demel. The highly-gifted artist and pupil of the “Wiener Werkstaetten” set up the ornately designed displays as well as creating the fine packaging art that both still exist today.

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