View of the State Opera, dated 1902, Vienna, Austria. Pinterest.
We all associate the city of Vienna with Mozart – Europe’s greatest composer – Austrian Empress Sissi and its magnificent architecture along the city’s grand boulevard called Ringstrasse. If you have ever visited this city, you must remember the stunning Hofburg Palace, State Opera, Kunsthistorisches Museum, and Natural History Museum. Did you know that they were all built on former medieval fortifications encircling the Innere Stadt, the historic city center? This magnificent project “appears as a coherent urban Gesamtkunstwerk.” Learn more about the concept behind the architectural complex along the Ringstrasse in Vienna.
Emperor Franz Josef of Austria in uniform, 1903. Library of Congress of the USA.
In 1857 the Emperor Franz Josef I of Austria issued an imperial rescript announcing the demolition of the old city walls, and thus preparing for the grand urban redevelopment of the imperial capital. The Emperor’s decision was a great political success for the civilian ministers and the bourgeois class. They had been trying to modernize the city and lobby the political and cultural centralization of the empire for decades.
The imperial will Es ist mein Wille, released on 25th December 1857 in the daily newspaper Wiener Zeitung (p. 1-2). Wikimedia Commons (public domain).
August Sicard von Sicardsburg and Eduard van der Nüll, State Opera, 1861–1869, Vienna, Austria. Falstaff.
Ringstrasse view of State Opera’s façade photographed in 1898, Vienna, Austria. Wikimedia Commons (public domain).
The State Opera was the first major building to be opened on the Ringstrasse. The building houses not only the State Opera, but also Vienna State Ballet.
Interestingly, the building was not well received by the public at the time of the official opening.
The most prestigious and influential cultural institutions represented by the State Opera, Kunsthistorisches Museum (Museum of Art History), and Natural History Museum were designed in the Renaissance style, praising the emergence of modern secular culture and commemorating past art and artists. For instance, the Kunsthistorisches Museum (KHM) and the mirror-imaged Natural History Museum (NHM) designed by Karl von Hasenauer and Gottfried Semper served as a mausoleum of art, hence the commemorating program of the museum’s architecture and ornaments.
Karl von Hasenauer and Gottfried Semper, Kunsthistorisches Museum, 1871–1891, Vienna, Austria. Photo by Tsui via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Inside Kunsthistorisches Museum, view on Antonio Canova’s Theseus Group, Vienna, Austria. Restauro.
Robert Raschka, The Inauguration of the Kunsthistorisches Museum by Emperor Franz Joseph I on 17 October 1891, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria. © KHM-Museumsverband.
Today’s view of Rotunda, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria. Austria Congress.
Karl von Hasenauer and Gottfried Semper, Natural History Museum, 1872–1889, Vienna, Austria. Photo by via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Venus of Willendorf, c. 25,000 BCE, Natural History Museum, Vienna, Austria. Photo by via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.5).
Both museums were designed in Renaissance style. KHM houses a large imperial art collection spanning from Ancient Greek and Egyptian art to Old Masters’ art.
In 1890 Canova’s Theseus Group was moved from the nearby Theseus Temple (located in Volksgarten) to the KHM’s monumental stairwell.
The museum was officially opened on 17 October, 1891 – three days later it was accessible free of charge for everyone. According to the museum’s website: “On the first Sundays, over 13,000 people visited the museum and the interest did not decline for many years.”
Mirror-imaged Natural History Museum on the opposite side. It’s one of biggest and most important museums of natural history in the world.
This world famous prehistoric statuette “lives” permanently in the Natural History Museum.
Theophil Hansen, House of Parliament, 1874–1883, Vienna, Austria. Photo by Gryffindor via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0).
View of Ringstrasse and House of Parliament around 1900. Wikimedia Commons (public domain).
Friedrich von Schmidt, City Hall (Rathaus), 1872–1883, Vienna, Austria. Wikimedia Commons (public domain).
Today’s view of the City Hall and Rathausplatz, Vienna, Austria. Wien.Info.
Heinrich von Ferstel, University of Vienna’s main building, 1877–1884, Vienna, Austria. University’s website.
Façade of the University’s main building, Universität Wien.
The House of Parliament designed by Danish architect Theophil Hansen represents classical Greek architecture, thought to be an edifying inspiration for the representatives of the people.
View of Ringstrasse and House of Parliament around 1900.
The City Hall designed by Friedrich von Schmidt was built in Gothic style, symbolizing the medieval tradition of municipal autonomy.
Today the popular Rathausplatz serves as a public venue. In summer various festivals take place in front of the City Hall, meanwhile in winter this area turns into a Christmas wonderland with its biggest and most popular Christkindlmarkt (Christmas market) in the city.
The University building ended the enfilade of state institutions. The architect envisioned the building as a reflection of the virtues from the Renaissance.
Photograph after an engraving from the picture portfolio “Die kk Universität Wien by Heinrich von Ferstel, ” 1892.
Another interesting ideological narrative was conceived in the façades of the House of Parliament, the City Hall (Wiener Rathaus), and the University, referred to as “citadels of bourgeois law and rational culture.” The edifices represent three chronological architectural styles in accordance to their functions: the classical Greek, Gothic, and Renaissance style respectively. The House of Parliament designed by Danish architect Theophil Hansen represents classical Greek architecture, thought to be an edifying inspiration for the representatives of the people. The City Hall designed by Friedrich von Schmidt was built in Gothic style, symbolizing the medieval tradition of municipal autonomy. This ideological corridor ends with the symbol of the liberal culture – the university. The building was designed by Heinrich von Ferstel, who envisioned it as a reflection of Renaissance virtues.
Heinrich von Ferstel, Votivkirche, Vienna, Austria. © Diejun/Österreich Werbung.
The neighboring monument to the University is the Votivkirche (Votive Church). It was initially thought to be a part of the university campus, fashioned after the English college model (e.g. Oxford and Cambridge University). The church was designed by the aforementioned University-architect Heinrich von Ferstel in the Gothic style of French cathedrals, commemorating the failed assassination attempt on Emperor Franz Josef.
View of the Votivkirche around 1900, Vienna, Austria. Wikimedia Commons (public domain).
Gottfried Semper and Karl von Hasenauer, Burgtheater, 1873–1888, Vienna, Austria. © clearlens/Shutterstock.
The last main edifice discussed in this article is the Burgtheater (Imperial Court Theater) on the opposite side of the Ringstrasse. This monument designed by Gottfried Semper and Karl von Hasenauer represents the early Baroque style, symbolizing the time of the unification of the theatrical space for the “cleric, courtier and commoner.” Just like the State Opera, the theater served as a house of social events for the aristocrats and new bourgeois elites.
View of the Ringstrasse and Burgtheater between 1890 and 1900, Vienna, Austria. Wikimedia Commons (public domain).
This architectural cluster along the Ringstrasse symbolized the new order in politics, culture, and society in European history. In single cases, these monuments epitomized civic strength and the bourgeois class, meanwhile collectively they manifested the imperial grandeur of the Habsburgs.
Schorske, Carl, E. Thinking with History. Explorations in the Passage to Modernism. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1998.
Schorske, Carl, E. Fin de Siècle Vienna. Politics and Culture. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1980.
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Nicole worked as an Editor in the DailyArt Magazine and has MA degree in art history. She is passionate about 17th-century Dutch art and colonial history. Her life-goal is to work with art and experience its beauty on a daily basis.
Bec is an art nerd, bicycle enthusiast, cat mom, artist/crafter/maker from sunny Toronto, Canada.
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