Enjoying Vienna’s Ringstrasse.

I am often asked what my favorite place, city, town, or vacation spot is, and I have to admit, I find this this type of question very difficult to answer. Perhaps it is in my gypsy-like nature that I love to visit and revisit places time and time again. At the same time, I can discover something new and fresh while enjoying the comfortably familiar.

Depending on my mood I’m as happy sipping a margarita and looking at a sunset in Key West as I am listening to music in a Viennese Concert hall or standing on top of a mountain on another day. And so, it is hard to pin a place and say that is it. However, if I had to choose a place, Vienna would definitely be on the shortlist.

Vienna is a huge city, stunning and full of interesting history and art. The beauty of Vienna can be seen almost everywhere, in tiny details and in imposing buildings. There is just not enough time to see it all in one visit and so one must make choices depending on what one is interested in. What is important to see will differ from person to person.

However, for me, a visit of Vienna is not complete without touring the Ringstrasse, the grand boulevard circling the old city center. If you are on a tour, I am sure that you will drive around the ring and see the Imperial Ministry of War or the Stadtpark and the famous statue of Strauss.

Almost every time I visit Vienna, I take a stroll along a section of the ring. It’s a great walk with a lot to see along the way.  A full walk around the ring would be about three and a half miles or five kilometers. However, if you just want to walk part of the road, one of my favorite walks is from the Opera to the Votive Church. Although your actual route may vary, depending on the location of your hotel

History of The Ringstrasse

Vienna was a fortified city throughout its history, however, the famous walls that withstood  the Turkish siege of 1529, were built in the 13^th century. Tradition has it that the money for their construction came from part of the ransom paid for the release of Richard The Lionheart in 1194.

Extended upon and expanded to endure the Turkish siege and later the thirty years war, by 1800, the walls were hugely surrounded by a glacis (an artificial slope cleared of obstacles) of over 500 meters or 1,600 feet. By the end of the 1800s, the walls had become obsolete.

In 1857, Kaiser Franz Joseph I of Austria decreed that it was his will that the existing city walls and surrounding glacis would be torn down. The emperor’s stated intention was to build a representative grand boulevard in its place. However, historians today believe there were also other motives in play.

1848 had seen the ‘Springtime of the People’ revolts in over 50 countries and European cities. Although slightly different from country to country, the main drive of these demonstrations was pro-democracy and anti-monarchy.

In the conflicts, tens of thousands of people were killed, and many fled into exile. The results however were striking. These included the end of absolute monarchy in Denmark, introduction of a representative monarchy in the Netherlands, and the ending of the monarchy in France, with the establishment of the Second French Republic.

Faced with a threat to monarchy itself, many European rulers made efforts to improve their reputations. In this light, the Ringstrasse project takes on a new meaning. The construction projects not only produced a beautiful boulevard with parks and spectacular buildings for the people to enjoy, but it also created employment. It allowed for the clearing of areas of bad housing, improved sanitation, and not least, placed an army barracks in the city with a wide boulevard to move around the city should there be any sign of trouble or revolt.

Vienna State Opera

The first major building built on the new Ringstrasse was the Opera House. It has 1,709 seats in a in Renaissance Revival style building. Designed by the architects August Sicard von Sicardsburg and Eduard van Nüll, work on the State Opera begun in 1861, and was completed in 1869. However, even during construction, issues arose.

During construction of the opera, the officials responsible for the street outside decided to raise the level of the ring road itself by 1 meter (1 yard). This had the effect of lowering the outline of the opera from street level and not allowing for steps up to the building making it less imposing.  It did not take long for the people of Vienna to liken the whole building to a sunken tomb and nicknamed the ‘Königgratz of architecture’ after a well-known military disaster in 1866. In the ensuing scandal, Eduard van Nüll committed suicide. In addition, von Sicardsburg died of tuberculosis ten weeks later so that neither architect saw the building completed.

However, when on the 25^th of May 1869, the tones of Don Giovanni by Mozart were heard in the presence of Emperor Franz Josef and his wife Elizabeth, the public was delighted with the acoustics. This was the beginning of the Viennese love affair with their opera.

Naturally, today the opera’s main focus is on producing world class shows. However, there are some traditions that have developed over the years that are worth mentioning and supporting. One of these is the fact that for many years now, they stage children’s operas in a special tent that can often be seen on top of the front façade. The House also stages the famous Opera Ball, a traditional ball at which debutantes are presented to society.

Outer Castle gate and Heldenplatz

The area in front of the palace, now called the Heldenplatz, was already defined as it is seen today, when the Outer Castle Gate was built. Originally hidden behind the city walls, the gate became a focal point for the square on construction of the Ringstrasse.

The building of the Ringstrasse allowed this area to be rethought. In designing what we see today, many architects were consulted including Ferstel, Hansen and Carl von Hasenauer. However, it is the overarching general design for the whole area by Gottfried Semper, that we see.

His plan was to create a large square consisting of the Museum of fine arts and Natural history Museum, and a matching of the existing palace with an extension of the Leopold Wing of the Hofburg, with the gate at its center. In reality, the extension of the Hofburg never took place. This leaves us with one open side to the square with a panorama of the City Hall and the Parliament, and easy access to the nearby Volksgarten and its beautiful roses.

The addition of two equestrian statues of Archduke Charles of Austria in 1860, and Prince Eugene of Savoy in 1865, completed, they are known as Hero’s Square today. On a darker note, it was from the balcony here that Adolf Hitler announced the Anschluss of Austria to the Third Reich in 1938.

 

Museum of fine Arts and Natural History Museum

Designed by Gotfried Semoper and Baron Karl von Hasenauer, the two buildings were constructed simultaneously. The buildings were to be appropriate sites to house the extensive collections of art and artifacts that the Hapsburg family had collected over time. Although both buildings are mirror images of each other, each has its own touches with statues representing sciences and arts.

 

Separated by a small park with an imposing statue of Empress Maria Theresa at its center, the buildings were also decorated lavishly inside. The designers used marble, stucco, and murals to create spaces in which the royal artifacts could be displayed.

The Austrian Parliament

The Austrian Parliament building is outstanding in several ways. Firstly, it was not originally intended as a parliament but as a home for the Imperial Council. Although in essence, the council was to advise the Imperial Monarchy, operating democratically, with a house of deputies and a house of lords.

Significantly, the location of the parliament was chosen to align with the city hall and in view of the Royal palace. This focused all the powerful institutions in walking distance of each other.

As Athens and Greece are seen by many as the birthplace of democracy, the classical style was chosen for the building itself. To this end, the commission chose an architect with experience building in Athens itself. In 1869, Theophil Hansen was given the order to design the new building.

In November 1883, the House of representatives held their first session in the building and the house of Lords followed a year later. The Imperial Council remained in place until 1918, and the end of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.With the end of the Monarchy, the National government renamed the building to Parliament. In addition, the houses of Deputies and Lords were replaced with National council and a Federal council.

Suspended in 1933, when the Austrian Chancellor Engelbert Doillfuß ceased its function, as a first step in creating his Austro-Fascist Dictatorship. The Parliament completely lost its function when Austria was annexed to the Third Reich through Adolf Hitler’s Anschluss.

Today the Parliament is again the seat of the Austrian Government and its people’s representatives. Regularly, the Parliament is the focus of important state ceremonies. In particular, it is here that the President of Austria is sworn in and the yearly national speech is held.

Of note to those of us passing by is The Athena Fountain erected in 1902. This goddess of wisdom has the four most important rivers of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire at her feet. These are the Danube, Inn, Elbe and Moldau. Wicked Viennese tongues point out that although wisdom is in front of the parliament to inspire the work inside, she is looking away in shame.

City Hall

The imperial construction plans for the city center presented a rare opportunity for the Vienna Mayor, Cajetan Feder. The old city hall built in 1316, had outgrown its usefulness, and the city wanted to build a new town hall. When the Ringstrasse project was announced, Feder, after lengthy discussions, convinced the court to hold a competition to design a new city hall to be built on the new ring.

Said to be modeled on the Brussels town hall, the Vienna town hall cost 14 million gulden to build and paid for by both the imperial court and the city of Vienna. The building features five towers, with the central tower crowned with the famous Rathausman Statue, at a height of 322 feet (98 meters).

Burg Theater

The construction of the Ringstrasse gave the emperor the opportunity to move the Royal Theater onto a more fitting stage. Earlier versions of the Theater had been housed in former tennis courts and later in a small theater beside the court

The building you see today is a reconstruction of the original design by Gottfried Semper, which was destroyed through Allied bombing during the Second World War. Known as ‘Die Burg’ by the people of Vienna, today this is one of the leading German Language Theaters in the world.

Votive church

The Votive Church was a concept inspired by a failed assassination attempt on Emperor Franz Joseph’s life in February 1853. He had been left with a deep knife wound when a tailor’s apprentice tried to stab him while he was out on a walk of the old city bastions.

On hearing of the Emperor’s good fortune in surviving the attack, Maximillian, his brother, asked the communities of the Austro-Hungarian Empire for donations towards a church on the site of the attack. The Church was a gift to give thanks. and it is appropriately named the Votive Church.

Although not strictly part of the original Ringstrasse plans, The Votive Church is a beautiful landmark on the ring today, particularly at night.