Vienna Ring Boulevard is 4 kilometres
long and circles the city centre. The construction of the
Ring Boulevard was initiated by Emperor Franz Joseph I in
December 1857.
The magnificent road was errected on the free space, which
emerged after tearing down the former city walls, glacis and
military enforcements protecting the city center, today's
first district ('Innere Stadt'). By this the emperor hoped
to overcome the separation of city center and the suburbs,
which had officially become part of Vienna in 1850. Ring boulevard
was generously planned, leaving sufficient space for a shaded
avenue and monumental buildings like Hofburg,
Austrian Parliament, State Opera House,
Museum of Fine Arts,
the first public observatory Urania and Vienna university
among others.
Even though most buildings have been planned and build at
pretty much the same time, their styles vary strongly. This
mix of archiectural styles is often referred to as 'Ringstrassenstil'
and takes its principles from Historicism. Various styles
were copied to underline the function of the buildings: the
Museum of Fine Arts
and its counterpart the Museum of Natural History were built
to resemble Italian Renaissance, so was the Vienna
Opera House. Parliament echos Greek classicism as this
was the epoch of the birth of democracy.
The Ring Boulevard was ceremonously inaugurated on 1st May
in 1865 and is one of the biggest and most beautiful boulevards
of its kind.
Ring Boulevard: Schubertring, Kärntnerring,
Opernring, Burgring, Dr. K. Renner Ring, Dr. K. Lueger Ring
& Schottenring
