Vienna · self-guided walk

The Ringstrasse

The imperial boulevard of the 1860s to 1880s: from the Heldenplatz past the great museums to the Parliament, City Hall, Burgtheater, University and Votivkirche, ending at Sigmund Freud's apartment on the Berggasse.

10 stops · 3.3 km · about 85 min

Distance and time are our curators' estimates for the whole walk, stops included.

The stops

The short version of each stop. In aiGuide, open Vienna, choose “The Ringstrasse” and tap Begin walking tour; then lock your phone, and each story starts as you reach the stop.

1. 1Heldenplatz

   Ringstrasse era, 1817 to 1913; Anschluss, 1938

   

   You are standing on the square the Habsburgs meant as the forecourt of an imperial forum that was never finished. Face the curved Neue Burg and find the terrace above its central entrance. From there, on 15 March 1938, Adolf Hitler announced Austria's annexation to Nazi Germany before a vast crowd.

   • Equestrian statues by Anton Dominik Fernkorn: Archduke Charles 1860, Prince Eugene 1865.
   • Neue Burg built 1881-1913 for Gottfried Semper's unfinished imperial forum.

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2. 2Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien

   Ringstrasse era, 1871 to 1891

   

   This is one of two mirror-image palaces built to show the emperor's collections in public: its twin across the garden holds nature, this one holds art. Look up at the dome to find Pallas Athena, goddess of wisdom and the arts. Inside hang twelve paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, including The Hunters in the Snow.

   • Built 1871-1891 by Gottfried Semper and Carl von Hasenauer.
   • Opened by Emperor Franz Joseph on 17 October 1891.

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3. 3Naturhistorisches Museum Wien

   Ringstrasse era, 1871 to 1889

   

   Look up at the dome: the bronze figure on top is Helios, the sun god, answering Pallas Athena on the art museum across the garden. Inside waits the Venus of Willendorf, a limestone figure just eleven centimetres tall, carved around 30,000 years ago and tinted with red ochre.

   • Opened on 10 August 1889; designed by Semper and Hasenauer.
   • Holds about 30 million objects in its collections.

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4. 4Palais Epstein

   Ringstrasse era, 1868-1871

   

   Look at the main entrance of this palace: four stone women, caryatids carved by Vincenz Pilz in 1871, hold up the balcony. The banker who commissioned it, Gustav von Epstein, lived here only briefly before the stock market crash of 1873 forced him to sell.

   • Built 1868 to 1871 by Theophil Hansen.
   • Otto Wagner supervised construction as a young architect.

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5. 5Parlamentsgebäude

   Ringstrasse era, 1874-1883; First and Second Republics

   

   This temple-fronted building houses Austria's parliament. In front of the portico stands Pallas Athena, goddess of wisdom, with a gilded helmet and a small figure of Victory in her hand. Viennese joked that she turned her back on the building in disgust at the brawling deputies inside.

   • Designed by Theophil Hansen; built 1874 to 1883.
   • Main portal copies the Erechtheion gate on the Acropolis.

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6. 6Wiener Rathaus

   Ringstrasse era, 1872-1883

   

   Look up the central tower of Vienna's city hall. At the very top, 98 metres up, stands the Rathausmann, a copper standard-bearer in armour about three and a half metres tall, placed there in 1882. He has watched over the city government, the mayor and the square below ever since.

   • Designed by Friedrich von Schmidt; built 1872 to 1883.
   • Main tower is 98 metres high.

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7. 7Burgtheater

   Ringstrasse era, 1874-1888; rebuilt 1945-1955

   

   This curved facade belongs to Austria's national theatre. Scan the walls for the stone busts of playwrights, from Shakespeare and Moliere to Goethe, Schiller and Grillparzer, and look above the main doors: the old inscription K.K. Hofburgtheater, the Imperial Court Theatre, is still there.

   • Designed by Gottfried Semper and Karl von Hasenauer.
   • Construction began 16 December 1874; opened 14 October 1888.

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8. 8Hauptgebäude der Universität Wien

   Ringstrasse era, 1873-1884

   

   You are in front of the main building of a university founded in 1365. Walk up the ramp and through the hall to the great arcaded courtyard, usually open to visitors, where busts of famous professors line the walls, Sigmund Freud and the physicist Lise Meitner among them.

   • University founded by Duke Rudolf IV on 12 March 1365.
   • Designed by Heinrich von Ferstel; built 1873 to 1884.

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9. 9Votivkirche

   Ringstrasse era, 1856-1879

   

   These two lacy spires, 99 metres high, look medieval but were finished in 1879. The church is a thank-you offering: in 1853 a young man attacked Emperor Franz Joseph with a knife, and the stiff embroidered collar of his uniform deflected the blade. Some 300,000 people gave money to build it.

   • Assassination attempt on Franz Joseph: 18 February 1853.
   • Architect Heinrich von Ferstel won the design competition aged 26.

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10. 10Sigmund Freud Museum

    Freud's Vienna, 1891-1938

    

    Behind this doorway at Berggasse 19, Sigmund Freud saw his patients and wrote most of his work for 47 years. Upstairs you can walk through his practice and family rooms. His famous couch is not here: it went with him to London when he fled the Nazis in 1938.

    • Freud lived and worked here from 1891 to 1938.
    • Freud left Vienna on the Orient Express on 4 June 1938.

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