Ringstrasse

Description:

• The Ringstrasse was built in the place of the medieval walls that used to surround the center of Vienna, today the First District. On Christmas Eve 1857, the Emperor Franz Josef I announced the demolition of the original walls, in order to build an imperial boulevard as an expression of the glorious Habsburg Empire. They turned out to be more of a memorial; less than 30 years after this imperial boulevard was finished in 1890, the Habsburg Empire was no more. Today, Vienna's Ringstrasse looks pretty much as it did in the last days of the Habsburgs, studded with key landmarks: 12 major public buildings (among them two museums), the State Opera House, the New Town Hall, the Stock Exchange, the university, the Burgtheater and the Parliament.
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