The Vienna State Opera house wears a limestone facade carved with arched windows and deep loggias that distinguish it from the flatter buildings nearby. It opened in eighteen sixty-nine with a performance of Don Giovanni. While the city…
Grand Ringstraße Architecture Walk
This walk follows Vienna's grandest 19th-century boulevard, starting at the Vienna State Opera and showcasing the monumental buildings that replaced the old city walls. It offers a deep look into the rise of the wealthy bourgeoisie and the theatrical urban design of the city's golden age.
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1. Vienna State Opera
2. Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien
The Kunsthistorisches Museum is defined by its massive octagonal dome, topped with a bronze statue of Athena Pallas that stands guard over Maria Theresien Platz. Emperor Franz Joseph commissioned the building in eighteen seventy-one to…
3. Austrian Parliament
The Austrian Parliament building features a forest of Greek-style columns and a sweeping ramp flanked by massive marble statues of Athena. It was designed by Theophil Hansen in the late nineteenth century to house the Imperial Council of…
4. Vienna City Hall
The Rathaus displays five distinct towers, with the tallest one in the center crowned by a golden iron figure holding a banner. Friedrich von Schmidt designed this massive neo-Gothic building in the late nineteenth century to house the…
5. Burgtheater
The Burgtheater stands out for the massive, sweeping staircases that flank its main entrance, illuminated by ceiling paintings from a young Gustav Klimt. This is the national theater of Austria, a house built to replace the aging playhouse…
6. University of Vienna
The main building of the University of Vienna features a massive, rectangular arcaded courtyard enclosed by high wings of yellow brick and gray stone. Built in the eighteen eighties, it replaced the old university quarters scattered across…
7. Votive Church
The Votive Church features a pair of openwork spires that rise nearly three hundred feet above the Ringstrasse. Emperor Franz Joseph ordered its construction after he survived an assassination attempt in eighteen fifty-three. His brother,…