Page 36 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Vienna

34  INTRODUCING VIENNA THE HIST OR Y OF VIENNA  35

Ringstrasse Vienna The Danube
The River Danube often flooded its
banks, so its course was altered and
Emperor Franz Joseph ushered in a new age of grandeur, regulated in the 1890s by a system of
despite the dwindling power of the Habsburgs. The city’s canals and locks.
defences were demolished and a circular boulevard, the
Ringstrasse, was built, linking new cultural and political
institutions. Vienna attracted gifted men and women from
all over the empire, as well as traders from Eastern Europe.
However, the resulting ethnic brew often resulted in
overcrowding and social tension. Extent of the City
1885 Today Vienna Café Society
In the 19th century, Vienna’s cafés became the
haunts of literary and political cliques.
Votivkirche p113
(Heinrich Ferstel, 1856–79)
Neues Rathaus p132
(Friedrich von Schmidt, 1872–83)
The Naturhistorisches Museum pp130–31The Naturhistorisches Museum pp130–31
Parliament p123 (Gottfried Semper, 1871–90)(Gottfried Semper, 1871–90)
(Theophil Hansen, 1874–84) Museum of Applied Arts pp84–5
(Heinrich Ferstel, 1867–71)
Kunsthistorisches Museum pp124–9
Kunsthistorisches Museum pp124–9 Horse-drawn Trams
(Gottfried Semper, 1871–90)
(Gottfried Semper, 1871–90) Trams appeared on the Ringstrasse in the
1860s. Horseless trams ran along it by the
end of the 19th century.
Stadtpark
Opera House pp140–41
(Eduard van der Nüll and August Siccardsburg, 1861–9)

The Suicide of Archduke Rudolf
at the Mayerling Hunting Lodge
Theophil Hansen
In 1889 the 30-year-old heir to the throne This Danish-born
was found dead alongside his mistress Mary architect (1813–91)
Vetsera. The Archduke’s suicide was more studied in Athens before Ringstrasse
than a social scandal. It was a blow to the settling in Vienna. A
Habsburg regime, since he was a progressive Greek influence is most This great boulevard, built under Franz The Opening of the Stadtpark
and intelligent man. His despair may have evident in his Parliament Joseph, separates the Stephansdom and Laid out on either side of the River Wien,
been aggravated by court protocol that building on the Ringstrasse. Hofburg Quarters from the suburbs. the Stadtpark was inaugurated in 1862.
offered no outlet for his ideas. Completed in the 1880s, the Ringstrasse
is as grand now as it was then.

1867 First performance of The Blue Danube
Excavation for by Strauss in Vienna. Hungary granted 1874 First performance of Strauss’s 1889 Suicide of Archduke
the Ringstrasse autonomy, leading to Dual Monarchy with Die Fledermaus at the Theater an der Rudolf at Mayerling
separate governments Wien. Opening of Central Cemetery

1850 1855 1860 1865 18701870 1875 1880 1885
1868 Anton Bruckner (see p41)
moves from Linz to Vienna 1873 Stock market crash
1872 Johannes Brahms settles in Vienna 1879 Lavish historical parade 1890 Vienna expands as
Anton along the Ringstrasse celebrates the outer suburbs are
1857–65 Demolition of fortifications and Bruckner 1869 The Opera House opens on as director of the Gesellschaft der Franz Joseph’s silver wedding incorporated into the city
the building of the Ringstrasse Ringstrasse with a performance Musikfreunde. Death of Austrian poet
of Mozart’s Don Giovanni and dramatist Franz Grillparzer

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