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Status January 2016
The Ringstrasse
"This new street is not dominated by any one building; there is no crescendo
towards a palace or a cathedral; but there is this constant triumphant pull along
from one great aspect of civilised life to another."
Edmund de Waal, The Hare with Amber Eyes. A Hidden Inheritance1
From military grounds to showpiece boulevard: its magnificent late 19th century mansions
and public buildings have made Vienna’s Ringstrasse boulevard an impressive procession
of Vienna’s best sights.
The history of the Ringstrasse begins on 20 December 1857, when Emperor Franz Joseph ordered
the fortifications surrounding Vienna’s city centre to be demolished, and for a boulevard complete
with showpiece buildings to be constructed on the grounds in front of the old walls and towers
which had previously been used by the military. The biggest public construction project in Vienna’s
history, the Ringstrasse formed a link between the city centre – dominated by the imperial
residence and the palaces of the aristocracy – with the surrounding districts inhabited by the
middle and lower classes. At the same time, this huge development met the demands created by a
rapidly growing population. The population of Vienna grew by nearly 30 percent between 1857 and
1868, passing the one million mark by 1890. Finally, the construction of the Ringstrasse marked
the transformation of the capital from the historic residence of the Habsburg monarchy to a
European metropolis.
In an international competition, 85 architects submitted proposals. However, none of the projects
were implemented directly. Instead, a commission used the best proposals to draw up the ground
plan for a 57 meter wide, five kilometer long, almost circular boulevard lined with double rows of
trees and monumental public edifices, grand city residences, private apartment buildings, squares
and parks. Land made available by demolishing the old city defenses (2.4 million square meters of
1
Edmund de Waal, The Hare with Amber Eyes: A Hidden Inheritance, p. 114 (London: Vintage Books, 2011)
1
space, equivalent to 300 soccer pitches) that was not earmarked for public buildings,
thoroughfares or parks was auctioned off at high prices to private individuals, which provided
finance for construction of the public buildings. The investors were offered a 30-year tax holiday if
they completed their buildings within five years.
Work began in earnest in 1858 and the imperial capital became a massive construction site. Just
seven years after the start of building works, the Ringstrasse was officially opened in the presence
of the Emperor and Empress on 1 May 1865. However, at that time only part of the whole project
was complete, and the rapid construction of the Ringstrasse was starting to take its toll on those
who worked on the development. Bricklayers and other workers received low wages and were
forced to work long hours. Most of the bricks used were produced at brickworks in the south of the
capital, which employed large numbers of immigrant workers from Bohemia.
An undertaking of exceptional proportions, the construction of the Ringstrasse attracted financiers,
developers and architects from all over Europe. Architect Gottfried Semper who designed the
Burgtheater and the court museums on the Ringstrasse came from Hamburg, architect Ludwig von
Förster from Franconia and Theophil Hansen from Denmark. Grand private residences built on the
Ringstrasse included those of Ukrainian banking family the Ephrussis, the Epstein family from
Prague’s wealthy Jewish middle class and the Todescos, a trading dynasty from Romania.
Creating architectural history
The buildings on the Ringstrasse are among the city’s most important sights and the “grandest
public space in Europe” (Edmund de Waal) comprises a variety of architectural styles. The
Ringstrasse’s historicism is based on idealized styles from the history of architecture. For each
building, a style was selected that echoed its intended purpose – for example, the Parliament
building was modeled on a Greek temple, and the new section of the imperial residence on a
Roman forum. The State Opera (at that time the Court Opera), the University, the Stock Exchange,
the Kunsthistorisches Museum and the Natural History Museum were built in the Neo-Renaissance
style, while the Burgtheater is Neo-Baroque, the City Hall is an example of Flemish gothic and the
Votive Church was built in the Neo-Gothic style.
Not everyone praised the Ringstrasse’s historicism. One of its critics was the prominent architect
and town planner Otto Wagner. “The Ringstrasse is a sample book of imitations of styles, each one
more laughable than the last,” he complained to salon hostess Berta Zuckerkandl, as recorded in
her memoirs2. In Robert Musil’s The Man Without Qualities3 the grandiose buildings on the
2
Berta Zuckerkandl, Österreich intim: Erinnerungen 1892-1942, ed. Reinhard Federmann (Vienna: Amalthea, 2013)
2
Ringstrasse are described as “stage set decorations of a vacuous time.” The project was also
viewed as bad planning by architects in hindsight. Adolf Loos, who rejected historicism, saw
Vienna’s central problem as the Ringstrasse.
The most important Ringstrasse architects were Theophil Hansen (the Parliament, Stock
Exchange, Academy of Fine Arts, Musikverein, Palais Ephrussi, Palais Epstein, Palais Hansen),
Gottfried Semper and Carl Hasenauer (Neue Burg, Kunsthistorisches Museum and Natural History
Museum, Burgtheater), Heinrich Ferstel (University, Votive Church, Museum of Art and Industry –
today the Museum of Applied Arts/Contemporary Art (MAK), Palais Wertheim, Palais Ludwig
Viktor), August Sicard von Sicardsburg and Eduard van der Nüll (State Opera) and Friedrich
Schmidt (City Hall). Buildings constructed on the Ringstrasse in later decades include the Austrian
Post Savings Bank, designed by Otto Wagner and built between 1904 and 1912, and the Urania
observatory, built by Max Fabiani from 1909-10. Erich Boltenstern’s Ringturm, one of the few
genuine examples of modern architecture on the Ringstrasse, was completed in 1955.
A Viennese open-air museum
The Ringstrasse is a treasure trove of architectural details, from the sculptures and decoration on
mansion façades to the design of entrances and stairwells. The planning concept was to create a
single showcase composed of public and private buildings, intentionally placed alongside one
another. Among the monumental administrative, government, cultural and commercial buildings on
the Ring are the Vienna State Opera, the Burgtheater, the City Hall and the Parliament. The
Kunsthistorisches Museum and Natural History Museum, along with the Neue Burg – an expansion
of the Hofburg – were parts of a wider project designed to express the might of the Habsburg
monarchy in a grand architectural gesture. The Imperial Forum was intended to link the Hofburg
with the twin museums housing the imperial collections, extending all the way to the imperial
stables. A second wing opposite the Neue Burg (at the site of what is now Heldenplatz) was
ultimately never realized, meaning that the grand Imperial Forum was never completed.
Buildings constructed by private citizens bear witness to the self-confidence of the city’s
burgeoning new upper class. The rise of bankers, industrialists and businessmen went hand in
hand with increasing industrialization. On the Ringstrasse, this generation of new wealth –
including the liberal Jewish elite – finally found a suitable setting. Many of these families provided
significant finance to the Emperor and were rewarded with titles, while the traditional aristocracy
was represented by relatively few buildings on the Ring. During the Nazi era, all of the residences
3
Robert Musil, Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften (Reinbek: Rowohlt, 1960)
3
in Jewish ownership – for example the sumptuously furnished Palais Ephrussi – were "Aryanized",
and their owners were ejected, and deported or murdered.
To begin with, there were no plans to build hotels on the Ringstrasse – the new boulevard was
intended solely for public and residential buildings. But the 1873 World Exhibition brought huge
demand for top class accommodation and a number of refined hotels sprang up, including the
Sacher. The oldest hotel on the Ring is the Grand Hotel, which was well ahead of its time when it
opened in 1870 with an automated lift, and a telephone in every room. A residential apartment
building was converted to create the hotel, a popular meeting place for the Austrian aristocracy and
the upper middle classes right up until the end of the monarchy. This is where Crown Prince Rudolf,
the son of Emperor Franz Josef, met his lover Mary Vetsera. The Palais Württemberg, on Kärntner
Ring, was first used as a hotel just a few years after its completion, and today is better known as
the Hotel Imperial. Originally intended to provide hotel accommodation for the 1873 World
Exhibition, the Palais Hansen on Schottenring would instead serve a number of other purposes
before finally opening its doors to hotel guests in 2013 as the Palais Hansen Kempinski Vienna.
The Palais Henckel-Donnersmarck on Parkring is home to the Radisson Blu Palais hotel (currently
closed for renovation), while four historical mansions on Schubertring were combined to form The
Ritz-Carlton Vienna, which opened in 2012.
Ringstrasse cafés and salon culture
The Ringstrasse was the city’s most fashionable promenade hotspot from the outset. Strolling and
being seen on the new boulevard was simply a continuation of the former tradition of strolling along
the city walls. The stretch between the “Sirk Ecke” (where Kärntner Strasse met the Ringstrasse)
and Schwarzenbergplatz was especially popular. Named after a shop in what is now the Hotel
Bristol, the corner was the place to meet in the days of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Karl Kraus
immortalized this spot in The Last Days of Mankind4 . This section of the Ring, also known locally
as the Opera crossroads, was one of the busiest and most cosmopolitan places in the city,
frequented by cyclists, horse-drawn carriages and trams. As the use of private transportation grew
in the following decades, traffic control became necessary and the first traffic lights in Vienna were
installed here in 1926. The first pedestrian zone was marked out not long after.
Other popular meeting places included the coffeehouses which sprang up all along the Ringstrasse.
It was here that businesspeople and anyone who wanted to discuss politics, artists and men of
letters, and chess and billiards players met - with each of these different groups having their own
preferred cafés. Out of the 27 large Ringstrassen cafés that were open 150 years ago, just a
4
Karl Kraus, Die letzten Tage der Menschheit (Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 1991)
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handful are left. After the Second World War, the economic recovery led to changes in the way
people spent their free time and their money, and coffeehouses began to die out. They were
replaced by the car showrooms, travel agencies and airline offices that moved in to these spacious
premises. Many of the traditional coffeehouses were overtaken by the new espresso bars like the
Café Milano on Stubenring, which is still open today, as are Café Prückel, Café Schwarzenberg
and Café Landtmann from among the great Ringstrasse coffeehouses.
As well as the cafés, salons held in the opulent private residences on the Ringstrasse were hubs of
social interaction where the world of the arts met the financial elite. One of the most celebrated
salons was hosted by the Todesco family, and Johann Strauss met his future wife, opera singer
Henriette Treffz, at the Palais Todesco on Kärntner Strasse. The Palais Leitenberger on Parkring
was another centre of Viennese society, with textiles magnate Friedrich Leitenberger one of the
era’s greatest patrons of the arts. And the crème de la crème of the artistic and business worlds in
Austria came together at the renowned salon hosted by author and journalist Berta Zuckerkandl.
Witnessing history in the making
The Ringstrasse has always been a place where people come together to show their colors at
historic events. A formal procession on the newly constructed Ringstrasse on April 27, 1879 to
mark the 25th anniversary of Emperor Franz Joseph’s marriage to Empress Elisabeth turned into a
famously lavish spectacle. The parade was led by Hans Makart, the best known painter of the day,
who planned every aspect of the event right down to the smallest detail in a 100 meter long sketch.
Ultimately, a total of 14,000 people took part in the magnificent Makart procession, with the city’s
artisans parading along the Ring on specially decorated floats in front of some 300,000 onlookers.
Decked out in costumes from the Renaissance to the early Baroque eras, men from all of the city’s
key guilds representing retail, commerce, industry, art and science took part. The imperial couple
watched the events unfold from the comfort of a marquee designed by the star architect Otto
Wagner. In 1908 the 60th anniversary of Emperor Franz Joseph I’s coronation was likewise
celebrated with a Festzug or procession along the ring.
After the fall of the monarchy, the boulevard continued to play a key political role. On November 12,
1918 the provisional national assembly of the First Republic was appointed inside the Parliament
building. Having failed to secure the necessary popular backing, the assembly would soon fall prey
to political in-fighting. On July 15, 1927 the Palace of Justice witnessed violent confrontations that
would eventually come to a head in the civil war of 1934. The unrest in Vienna was sparked by the
Schattendorf verdict, which led to the release of the individuals charged with killing two innocent
bystanders in an armed confrontation between members of rival political movements in the town of
Schattendorf in Burgenland. During a demonstration against the verdict the Palace of Justice was
5
set on fire, and the police fired into the crowd, leading to 89 demonstrators and four policemen
losing their lives. On 15 March 1938, the Heldenplatz square in front of the Hofburg provided the
backdrop for Hitler’s announcement of the Annexation of Austria into the Greater German Reich.
Following the Nazis’ defeat, Vienna’s social democrats reinstated an old tradition of May Day
marches on the Ringstrasse with the first of the new era taking place in 1946. The first of May had
been marked by the Social Democrats in Vienna as part of the international workers’ movement
celebrations since 1890, before being formalized as a public holiday in 1919 which the Austrian
Communist Party also formally embraced. To this day, left-wing groups representing the city’s
various districts converge on the Ring before assembling on Rathausplatz for an annual rally.
Events throughout the year
The Ringstrasse provides the backdrop for various large-scale events throughout the year that play
out in the buildings lining the boulevard and its squares and parks. Cultural highlights include the
world-famous New Year’s Concert by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra at the Musikverein, the
Music Film Festival on Rathausplatz in summer and live opera broadcasts on the big screen
outside the Vienna State Opera (Oper live am Platz, April, June, September and October). The
focus turns to sport in April at the Argus Bike Festival cycle show on Rathausplatz, and the Vienna
City Marathon which finishes in front of the Burgtheater. In September Rathausplatz hosts the
biggest prize in equestrian sport when the Global Champions Tour comes to Rathausplatz for the
Vienna Masters. The square also sets the stage for Vienna Ice World from January to March when
it is transformed into an ice skater’s paradise.
Culinary specialties from local growers and producers are the order of the day at the
Genussfestival in Stadtpark in May, while Modepalast at the MAK Austrian Museum of Applied
Arts/Contemporary Art showcases the latest fashions and fashion-related products. At the same
location, the Blickfang sales fair puts the spotlight on design each October. From mid-November
onwards Christmas and Advent markets start to spring up at locations throughout the city, including
Rathausplatz, Karlsplatz and Maria-Theresien-Platz, the square between the Natural History
Museum and the Kunsthistorisches Museum. The historic buildings lining the Ring also host
countless balls, mainly during the season in January and February.
Venues include the Hofburg (Hofburg Silvesterball/New Year’s Eve Ball, Coffeehouse Owners’ Ball,
Hunters’ Ball), Vienna State Opera (Opera Ball), Musikverein (Vienna Philharmonic Ball),
Konzerthaus (Bonbon Ball, Costume Ball) and City Hall (Vienna Science Ball, Flower Ball,
Concordia Ball, Vienna Red Cross Ball). Europe’s largest Aids charity event, the Life Ball, brings
revelers to City Hall in their droves (the Life Ball will be taking a year off in 2016 before returning in
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an all-new format in 2017). The spectacle gets underway with a free fashion show on Rathausplatz.
In June the gay and lesbian community gets together for the Rainbow Parade and Vienna Pride on
the Ring. The partying continues in August with the Streetparade and the Streetfestival on
Rathausplatz. In recent years a lively bar and restaurant scene that hits fever pitch in the summer
months has taken up residence on the stretch of the Danube Canal by Franz-Josefs-Kai. This
section of road between the Ringturm tower and the Urania observatory marks the start and finish
of the Ring encircling the historic city center.
Transport artery and oasis of calm
Vienna’s Ringstrasse boulevard and the old town were added to the UNESCO World Cultural
Heritage list in 2001 (the second entry after Schönbrunn Palace and the palace gardens). The
street itself is divided into nine sections, from Stubenring to Schottenring. Once Franz-Josefs-Kai
on the Danube Canal is included it fully encircles the historic city center to form one of the Austrian
capital’s key thoroughfares. From the very beginning the Ring has been open to public
transportation, with a horse-drawn tram serving the section between Stubenring and Schottentor
as early as 1868. Today the 1, 2, D and 71 tram lines travel along the Ring. Sightseeing tours
aboard the Vienna Ring Tram take in a full circle of the Ringstrasse. During the 25 minute journey
headphones and screens provide key information about all the main sights in a choice of eight
languages and Viennese dialect.
Up to four lanes wide in places, the Ringstrasse is also open to road traffic, with vehicles restricted
to clockwise travel along its entire length. The Ring cycle path is used by around 3,000 cyclists
each day. Parts of the Ringstrasse were opened to bicycles as far back as 1887. The underpasses
built to keep pace with ever increasing volumes of traffic in the 1960s, such as the
Babenbergerpassage and the Albertinapassage, have been given a new lease on life as chic night
clubs, and pedestrians are now able to cross the Ring using zebra crossings.
Despite being one of the capital’s busiest roads, the Ringstrasse still manages to be a refuge of
peace and quiet. The boulevard was carefully landscaped when it was constructed, with the space
between the road and the buildings on either side of the thoroughfare lined with up to three rows of
trees. Rows of sycamores and trees of heaven (Ailanthus altissima) were planted, flanking a
promenade and riding path. The trees of heaven proved susceptible to the local climate and had to
be replanted a number of times. Today around 2,400 trees line the route, providing welcome shade
in the summer. Maple, linden, celtis, sycamore and horse chestnut are among the most common
species.
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The carefully manicured historic parks along the length of the Ringstrasse also provide islands of
tranquility. The Volksgarten, where hundreds of varieties of roses blossom each summer, is home
to the Temple of Theseus. An exact replica of the Theseion in Athens, this monument is used by
the Kunsthistorisches Museum to display contemporary art. A memorial to Empress Elisabeth can
also be found in the park. Laid out in accordance with the traditions of English landscaping, the
Rathauspark has an impressive selection of trees, including a number of rare species. The nearby
Burggarten – home to the much-visited Mozart memorial – contains the Palm House. Divided into
two, this giant greenhouse now houses a café restaurant as well as the capital’s Butterfly House.
Stadtpark is Vienna’s oldest public park, opened in 1862. Its beautiful winding paths are lined with
shrubs, lawns and ponds. The park is also full of statues, including Vienna’s most-photographed
monument, a gilt likeness of the King of Waltz, Johann Strauss the Younger.
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