Julius Payer

Julius Johanes Ludovicus Payer was born on 2 September 1841 in Teplice in an Imperial-style house called “U Jitřenky”. In those days the local spa was at the peak of its fame and known across Europe.
     Julius tended towards mountain-climbing already as a child. There was a steep rock behind the family house where he used to climb even several times a day despite his parents´ ban.
From his childhood he followed in the steps of his father, who was an officer in the Austrian army and an excellent artist and cartographer. Like him, he used to sit in a corner at the window drawing busily according to masters.
    In 1852 he entered a cadet school in Lobzów near Krakow and then went to the Theresian Military Academy in Vienna Neustadt. After his studies he spent the first years at an infantry division and taught geography and history at a cadet school. Later on he was sent to the crew he started his alpine tours with and bought his first good-quality maps. In 1866 he participated at a battle at Custozzy and was honoured and promoted for bravery. His commanders noticed his cartographic activities and summoned him to a military geographical institute. At the same time he was teaching geography at a military academy.
     Thanks to his skills Payer was recommended to participate in the second German arctic mission to the eastern coast of Greenland as a leader of the sled expeditions. He managed to explore and map the coast with numerous islands, discovered King William´s Land and was the first man to include mountain-climbing in arctic research. The mountain he climbed there was named Payer´s Peak.    
     Another of Payer´s mission was participating in the first Austrian expedition to the Arctic Sea. Their task was to find open sea towards the Siberian coast. However, this idea proved unrealistic as they encountered icebergs.
     That was why another Austrian arctic expedition was dispatched which was to try to find the open sea towards the east or to the northern pole. However, the situation proved even worse than on the previous mission and the ship got stuck among icebergs where it froze in and was driven in several directions, especially to the north. As the steamship was uncontrollable, the crew built an emergency dwelling on an iceberg. They passed a so far unknown group of islands which they called Franz Josef Land according to the current emperor. They had to head back on the return journey by foot. Their spectacular return was accompanied by celebrations and culminated in an audience with the emperor. After that, Payer returned to his home town of Teplice.
      His successful march continued with numerous lectures given across Europe, but Payer wanted to devote himself to art and left the army. He started to study painting in Salzburg, than in Frankfurt and after that he got married. After his studies he moved with this family to Paris, where he went blind after contracting an infection and split with his wife. He returned to Vienna alone, where he founded a school of painting and created his best known picture, “Never turn back!”
     After suffering a stroke he was stuck dumb and partly paralyzed. He died on 4 September 1915 and was given an honorary funeral in Vienna.