Lecture
a_showcase 08: 150 Years of the Vienna Ring Road
a_showcase 08: 150 Years of the Vienna Ring Road
© Wien Museum
150 years ago an international competition was held to develop the Glacis. The basis was an imperial edict ordering the raising of the old Viennese city fortifications and defensive complexes.
This enabled the now essential urban expansion and the historic interweave of the historic core with the suburbs. A series of grand buildings and palaces arose along the ‘via triumphalis’ that reflected the need for representation of the financially strong Viennese middle classes. In 1885 the full length of the concentric boulevard, which was up to 57m wide and 4 kilometres in length, was completed.
The building of the Ring Road was the expression of a major process of modernisation as well as being a manifestation of social and political changes in Vienna. The topics addressed on the evening are, alongside urban development and architectural issues, the social and functional contradictions of the monumental representative boulevard and its impact today.
Guests: Renate Banik-Schweitzer, Ludwig-Boltzmann-Institut für Stadtgeschichtsforschung
Sándor Békési, Wien Museum
Moderation: Monika Platzer
Admission free
