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Historicism – the
architectural style of
the Ringstrasse
A temple for the Parliament, a Renaissance palace for
the sciences and a Roman forum for the emperor –
Historicism gave each building its appropriate
appearance.
The buildings that line the Ringstrasse were designed in the
Historicist style, that is to say they were modelled on idealized
versions of historical architectural styles but adapted to the
technological and functional demands of the time in which they
were built. The style chosen for each building was that which
was held to best express its function Theophil Hansen (1813–
1891) designed the Parliament building in the Hellenistic style, in
the belief that the form of government in classical Athens had
given birth to the truest form of democracy. The neo-Gothic
City Hall by Friedrich Schmidt (1825–1891) reflected the civic
autonomy of the cities in Flanders. The Votivkirche by Heinrich
Ferstel (1828–1883) was built in the French Gothic style, while
in his designs for the university Ferstel took as his model the
Italian Renaissance, the period when art and science flowered
in Europe. The Imperial Forum is the last in this series, drawing
on the fora of the Roman emperors.
One of the major ideas of the Historicist movement was the
concept of the Gesamtkunstwerk, or synthesis of the arts: The
Ringstrasse as a whole as well as each individual building on it
was conceived as a work of art. The architect thus also had to
concern himself with the decoration of the buildings, sculpture
and painting being regarded as constituent parts of
architecture. As a consequence there was an upswing in the
craft trades. An art industry started up, commissioned to
produce large quantities of like-for-like objects in the shortest
possible time. In 1871 the emperor issued an order for the
construction of the Imperial-Royal Museum for Art and
Industry on the Stubenring together with an adjoining school,
the first museum of arts and crafts to be built in continental
Europe. The idea for this museum came from Rudolf von
Eitelberger-Edelberg (1817–1885), who after visiting a similar
collection in London had persuaded the emperor to unite art
and industry under one roof. Its chief aims were educational.
Author
Julia Teresa Friehs
Literature
Czeike, Felix: Geschichte der Stadt Wien, 1. Aufl. Wien u. a. 1981,
194f., 205;
Öhlinger, Walter: Wien im Aufbruch zur Moderne, Wien 1999
(Geschichte Wiens 5), 96f;
Pippal, Martina: Kleine Kunstgeschichte Wiens, München 2000;
Podbrecky, Inge: Die Wiener Ringstraße, in: Fillitz, Hermann (Hrsg.):
Der Traum vom Glück. Die Kunst des Historismus in Europa, Bd. 1,
Katalog zur gleichnamigen Ausstellung im Künstlerhaus Wien und
der Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien, 13.9.1996–6.1.1997,
Wien 1996, 267–273;
Roschitz, Karlheinz: Die Wiener Weltausstellung, in: Parnass 16
(1996) 12, 70–76;
Vocelka, Karl: Geschichte Österreichs. Kultur – Gesellschaft –
Politik, 3. Aufl. München 2004, 263;
Wagner-Rieger, Renate (Hrsg.): Die Wiener Ringstraße: Bild einer
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Joseph, Wiesbaden 1972–1981;