The Ringstraße goes around the Innere Stadt district of Vienna and is one of its main sights. It became characteristic for the style of the 1860s to 1890s: that particular type of historicism is called Ringstraßenstil (Ringstraße Style).
History
The street was built in place of the city walls, which had been built during the 13th century and reinforced as a consequence of the First Turkish Siege in 1529, and instead of the glacis, which was about 500m wide. The fortification had been obsolete since the late 18th century, but the Revolution of 1848 was required to trigger a significant change.
In 1850, the Vorstädte (today the Districts II to IX) were incorporated into the municipality, which rendered the city walls a simple impediment to traffic. In 1857, they were finally demolished, and the creation of a boulevards was ordered.
Since the Ringstraße had always been meant primarily for representation, a parallel Lastenstraße (burden road) was built at the outward side of the former glacis, which is colloquially known as 2-er Linie, named after the index "2" in the identifiers of the tram lines which used it. It is still important for through traffic.
After some disputes about competence between the government and the municipality, a "City Extension Fund" was created, which was administered by the government. Only the town hall was planned by the city.
During the following years, a large number of public and private opulent buildings were erected. Both nobility and the ewly reached rushed to build representative palaces along the street. One of the first buildings was the Heinrichshof, owned by the beer brewer Heinrich Drasche , which was located opposite the opera until 1945.
Buildings
Most buildings date back to the time before 1870. The most remarkable ones are:
- Neue Hofoper (now Vienna State Opera), in neo-romantic style by August Sicard von Sicardsburg and Eduard van der Nüll
- The Parliament building , in neo-attic style (a reference to the democracy of ancient Athens) by Theophil Hansen
- The Town Hall, in Flemish-gothic style by Friedrich Schmidt
- The Burgtheater by Karl Freiherr von Hasenauer
- The University Building.
The only sacral building is the Votivkirche (in neo-gothic style), which was built after Emperor Franz Joseph had been saved from an assassination attempt in 1853.
The Hofburg was extended by an overdimensioned annex, the New Hofburg, which habors the Musuem of Ethnology and the Austrian National Library today. On the other side of the street, there are the Museum of Art History and the Museum of Natural History , which were built for the imperial collections. Originally, there should have been a parallel wing opposite the New Hofburg, which would have been attached to the Museum of Natural History. The Heldenplatz and the Maria-Theresien-Platz would have become the Kaiserforum. However, that plan was shelved for lack of funds.
The construction ended only in 1913 with the completion of the Kriegsministerium (Ministry of War). At that time, the Ringstraßenstil was already somewhat outdated, as is shown by the Postsparkassengebäude (Postal Savings Society Building) by Otto Wagner, which was built at the same time.
The biggest catastrophe was the fire of the Ringtheater in 1881, in which several hundred people died.
Sections of the Ringstraße
The Ringstraße has several sections. It surrounds the central area of Vienna on all side, except for the northeast, where its place is taken by the Franz-Josephs-Kai , the street going along the Donaukanal (a branch of the Danube). Starting from the Ringturm at the northern end of the Franz-Josephs-Kai, the sections are:
