SYKORA

AUSTRIA (see also List of Individuals)

\

2.12.1850 Wien/A - 16.6.1924 Wien/A

\

Karl Sykora joined the service of the capital Vienna once having graduated as a civil engineer from the Technical University. He was involved in the regulation of Danube River in the city surroundings. In the 1880s, once these works had come to a stop, he was transferred to the second Hochquellenleitung which supplied the capital with drinking water. Whereas Karl Kinzer (1857-1916) was mainly occupied with the supply pipes, Sykora had the task to prospect groundwater sources, to head the many tunneling works for the aqueduct and to secure the management, maintenance and the extension of this large water scheme. He was also involved in the distribution of waters in the rapidly growing capital.

\

Sykora was appointed one of the two city engineers of Vienna in 1908, where he was in charge of water supply and wastewater removal, among others. He was thus in the transition era between the old 19th century and the modern times, when electricity for instance became rapidly a common new energy resource. Vienna, at this time one of the important cities of the world such as Paris or London, had to fight with these transition problems, in addition to political vagrancy in the Imperial Danube Monarchy, which finally ended in the disaster after World War I. Sykora thus contributed to the improvement of the capital and was awarded the Officer's Cross of the Franz-Josef-Order and was appointed Stadtbaudirektor following the inauguration of the large water supply in 1912. Shortly later, Sykora retired and passed away 10 years later.

\

_{Donner, J. (1973). 100 Jahre Wiener Hochquellenleitung. Österreichische Wasserwirtschaft}

_{25(9/10): 169-172.}

_{Swetz, A. (1914). Die zweite Kaiser Franz-Josef Hochquellenleitung der Stadt Wien. Journal für Gasbeleuchtung und Wasserversorgung 57(21): 486-496; 57(22): 518-523.}

_{Sykora, K. (1898). Einige vergleichende Mittheilungen über die Wasserversorgungs-Verhältnisse in Wien und in Paris. Zeitschrift Österreichischer Ingenieurund Architekten-Verein 50(26): 393-397.}

_{Tillmann, R. (1935). Karl Sykora. Festschrift herausgegeben anlässlich der Hundertjahrfeier des Wiener Stadtbauamtes: 47-48. Jugend und Volk: Wien. P}