By the example of the novel Austerlitz by W.G. Sebald, the present paper shows how architecture can inspire literature, being not only a subject of but also a structural model for literary texts. In Sebald’s literary depictions, topography, interiors, buildings and their plans play the role of memory metaphors – following the tradition to conceive of human memory as a spatial concept. The same buildings and architectural structures, presented on photographs combined with the verbal text, become metonymies which re-present the past and the repressed trauma. A number of space metaphors used in Austerlitz are examined: concepts expressing the notion of the hermetic, of dislocation, estrangement, death of cultural memory, of the protagonist’s defence mechanism against trauma. Then, Sebald‘s depiction of language as a maze is considered in the context of the relationship between aphasia as language disorder and metonymy as a poetic means – an analogy going back to R.Jakobson. Finally, Sebald’s „metonymic interaction“ between language and pictures is examined, allowing the conclusion that metaphors of memory in Austerlitz have a rather traditional character, while the metonymies are innovative and have a great impact on the reader/spectator.