Vienna's Ringstrasse

Wien Museum celebrates the 150th anniversary of the Ringstrasse boulevard with a “making of” exhibition about its pioneering years: Vienna on the road to becoming a modern city, from the launch of its programme of urban expansion to the official opening of the splendid Ring boulevard on 1 May 1865. Design drawings, sketches, models and photographs that have never been on public display before illustrate the side-by-side existence of “old” and “new Vienna”, of construction sites and wastelands, demolition works and new buildings going up. Through these images, the outlines of a society in transformation can be gleaned: Launched as a major government project, the Ring development became a stage for Vienna’s new, self-confident haute bourgeoisie, which was to play a decisive part in the last decades of the Habsburg monarchy.

High street of the 19th century

Revenue from the sale of building lots to private investors was used for the construction of many public buildings. For several years, Vienna turned into a huge construction site – and a laboratory for new architecture. With its abundance of representative buildings in the historical styles that were most popular at the time, the “via triumphalis” of the Danube Monarchy became something of a “high street of the 19th century”. The exhibition presents the key players in the urban expansion programme, introduces the photographers who documented the fortifications and their demolition, looks at and behind the facades of the first mansions and palaces around the Ring and shows visitors around major construction sites.

Curator:
Andreas Nierhaus

Exhibition architecture:
MVD Austria – Irina Koerdt, Michael Rieper, Sanja Utech

Graphic design:
Bueronardin