ABSTRACT
Facing possible and sometimes real attacks by the Ottoman Turks, the city of Vienna, on the eastern edge of Europe, was surrounded by a series of fortifications for several centuries and would remain in place until the middle of the nineteenth century. Growth beyond the city walls and moats was limited and the inner altstadt remained relatively unchanged since medieval times. By 1857, when Emperor Franz Josef I decreed that the bastions be removed, the entire defensible zone encircling the city was over 400 meters wide and capable of significant urban revitalization and space for the royal city. The emperor’s decree outlined the construction of an opera house, museums, library, archives and other government office buildings. This area, now known as the Ringstrasse, allowed for late nineteenth century institutions with ceremonial functions to be condensed into a single distinct area.
