MARIA-THERESIEN-PLATZ, Presentation

Hi, my name’s Rick, and I’m your personal guide. Along with MyWoWo, I’d like to welcome you to one of the Wonders of the World: Maria-Theresien-Platz

This large square was one of the first works to be carried out during the design of the Ring.

When the competition for the construction of this ring road was announced in 1858, as many as 500 different firms of architects entered, from all over the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but only 85 were able to submit a design. The committee proclaimed three winners.

For many years, the Ring was to be the favorite pastime of the austere Emperor Franz Joseph, who loved to imagine palaces, green spaces, museums, theaters, monuments and traffic solutions, following precise rules of symmetry. Even before the plans and construction sites took shape, the grand, eclectic "Ring style" shared by all the main buildings was already emerging in his head.

As I mentioned, one of the first works, in 1862, was the design of a large square dedicated to Empress Maria Theresa at the imperial residence, Hofburg. The square is characterized by the sumptuous monument dedicated to the empress, attached to which two colossal twin buildings topped by striking domes: the Natural History Museum and the Art History Museum. This monument to the sovereign took 13 years to complete!...