The Gürtel () is a substantial city road of

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. Running parallel to the famous

Vienna Ring Road The Vienna Ring Road (german: Ringstraße, lit. ''ring road'') is a 5.3 km (3.3 mi) circular grand boulevard that serves as a ring road around the historic Innere Stadt (Inner Town) district of Vienna, Austria. The road is located on sites where ...

, it encompasses the

inner city The term ''inner city'' has been used, especially in the United States, as a euphemism for majority-minority lower-income residential districts that often refer to rundown neighborhoods, in a downtown or city centre area. Sociologists some ...

districts (''Innenbezirke'') and follows the route of the former ''

Linienwall The ''Linienwall'' was an outer line of fortifications for the city of Vienna, Austria, which lay between the city's suburbs and outlying villages. Constructed in 1704, it was razed in 1894 to make way for the Vienna Beltway. Construction The c ...

'' outer fortification. The city's

red-light district A red-light district or pleasure district is a part of an urban area where a concentration of prostitution and sex-oriented businesses, such as sex shops, strip clubs, and adult theaters, are found. In most cases, red-light districts are particu ...

is situated around the Gürtel.

History

The Gürtel was laid out from 1873 at the site of the former ''

'' fortification, built under

Emperor Leopold I Leopold I (Leopold Ignaz Joseph Balthasar Franz Felician; hu, I. Lipót; 9 June 1640 – 5 May 1705) was Holy Roman Emperor, King of Hungary, Croatia, and Bohemia. The second son of Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, by his first wife, Maria An ...

at the beginning of the 18th century to protect his residence from

kuruc Kuruc (, plural ''kurucok''), also spelled kurutz, refers to a group of armed anti-Habsburg insurgents in the Kingdom of Hungary between 1671 and 1711. Over time, the term kuruc has come to designate Hungarians who advocate strict national ind ...

invasions in the course of Rákóczi's War for Independence. After

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, the road became the construction site for several

public housing Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is usually owned by a government authority, either central or local. Although the common goal of public housing is to provide affordable housing, the details, terminology, def ...

estates (''

Gemeindebau ''Gemeindebau'' (; plural: ''Gemeindebauten'') is an Austrian German word for "municipality building".''Gemeinde''< ...

ten'') in the era of

Red Vienna Red Vienna (German: ''Rotes Wien'') was the colloquial name for the capital of Austria between 1918 and 1934, when the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria (SDAP) maintained almost unilateral political control over Vienna and, for a short ...

. As in most parts of

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

, vehicles formerly moved on the left, like in Britain, until after the

Anschluss The (, or , ), also known as the (, en, Annexation of Austria), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into the German Reich on 13 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a " Greater Germany ...

in 1938. According to German regulations, traffic in Vienna was redirected to pass on the right as elsewhere on the Continent. Plans developed in the 1960s and 70s to rebuild the Gürtel as a city motorway have never been carried out. The road, like the adjacent residential areas, is however strongly affected by the high traffic volume.

Layout

The road is officially called B 221 Wiener Gürtel Straße. In the south it starts at the junction with the ''A23 Südosttangente'' motorway in the

Landstraße Landstraße (; Central Bavarian: ''Laundstrossn'') is the 3rd municipal district of Vienna, Austria (german: 3. Bezirk). It is near the center of Vienna and was established in the 19th century. Landstraße is a heavily populated urban area with ...

district and runs westward toward the

Central Station Central stations or central railway stations emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century as railway stations that had initially been built on the edge of city centres were enveloped by urban expansion and became an integral part of the ...

, where the Vienna Pre-metro has been built under surface. There the ''Wiedner Gürtel'' and ''Margaretengürtel'' mark the border of

Wieden Wieden (; Central Bavarian: ''Wiedn'') is the 4th municipal district of Vienna, Austria (german: 4. Bezirk). It is near the centre of Vienna and was established as a district in 1850, but its borders were changed later. Wieden is a small region ...

and

Margareten Margareten (; bar, Magredn) is the fifth district of Vienna (german: 5. Bezirk, Margareten). It is near the old town of Vienna and was established as a district in 1850, but borders changed later.Favoriten Favoriten (; Central Bavarian: ''Favoritn''), the 10th district of Vienna, Austria (german: 10. Bezirk, Favoriten), is located south of the central districts. It is south of Innere Stadt, Wieden and Margareten. Favoriten is a heavily populat ...

suburb. The Gürtel then turns north, running along the eastern rim of the

Meidling Meidling () is the 12th district of Vienna (german: 12. Bezirk, Meidling). It is located just southwest of the central districts, south of the Wienfluss, west of the Gürtel belt, and east and southeast of Schönbrunn palace. Meidling is a heav ...

suburb, crossing the

Wienfluss The Wien is a river that flows through Austria's capital Vienna. Geography The river Wien is long, of which are within the city. Its drainage basin covers an area of , both in the city and in the neighbouring Vienna Woods. Its source lies in ...

and the

Wienzeile The Wienzeile ('Vienna Row') is a street in Vienna, which originated in the course of the regulation of the Vienna River between 1899 and 1905 along the river's banks. It is divided into the Rechte Wienzeile (Right Vienna Row) and the Linke Wienzei ...

road, separating the inner city districts of

Mariahilf Mariahilf (; Central Bavarian: ''Mariahüf'') is the 6th municipal district of Vienna, Austria (german: 6. Bezirk). It is near the center of Vienna and was established as a district in 1850. Mariahilf is a heavily populated urban area with many res ...

and

Neubau Neubau (; Central Bavarian: ''Neibau'') is the seventh district of Vienna (german: 7. Bezirk). It is located near the center of Vienna and was established as a district in 1850, but borders changed later. Neubau is a heavily populated urban area, ...

in the east from

Rudolfsheim-Fünfhaus Rudolfsheim-Fünfhaus () is the 15th municipal District of Vienna, Austria (german: 15. Bezirk). It is in central Vienna, west of Innere Stadt. It borders Neubau and Mariahilf in the east, Meidling and Hietzing in the south, Penzing in the w ...

with the Westbahnhof. The road continues as the border of

Josefstadt Josefstadt (; Central Bavarian: ''Josefstod'') is the eighth district of Vienna (german: 8. Bezirk, Josefstadt). It is near the center of Vienna and was established as a district in 1850, but borders changed later. Josefstadt is a heavily po ...

and

Alsergrund Alsergrund (; Central Bavarian: ''Oisagrund'') is the ninth district of Vienna, Austria (german: 9. Bezirk, Alsergrund). It is located just north of the first, central district, Innere Stadt. Alsergrund was incorporated in 1862, with seven suburbs. ...

with the outer

Hernals Hernals (; Viennese German: Hernois) is the 17th district of Vienna, Austria (german: 17. Bezirk, Hernals). Hernals is in northwest Vienna.Statistik Austria, 2007, webpagestatistik.at-23450. Wien.gv.at webpage (see below: References). It was anne ...

and

Währing Währing () is the 18th district of Vienna and lies in northwestern Vienna on the edge of the Vienna Woods. It was formed in 1892 from the unification of the older suburbs of Währing, Weinhaus, Gersthof, Pötzleinsdorf, Neustift am Walde and Sa ...

districts, passing the

General Hospital ''General Hospital'' (often abbreviated as ''GH'') is an American daytime television soap opera. It is listed in ''Guinness World Records'' as the list of longest-running television shows by category, longest-running American soap opera in pro ...

(''Allgemeines Krankenhaus, AKH'') and the

Volksoper The Vienna Volksoper (''Volksoper'' or ''Vienna People's Opera'') is an opera house in Vienna, Austria. It produces three hundred performances of twenty-five German language productions of opera, operetta, musicals, and ballet, during an annual s ...

. At its northern end in

Döbling Döbling () is the 19th District A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, seve ...

, the Gürtel reaches the

Donaukanal The Donaukanal ("Danube Canal") is a former arm of the river Danube, now regulated as a water channel (since 1598), within the city of Vienna, Austria. It is long and, unlike the Danube itself, it borders Vienna's city centre, Innere Stadt, ...

at the ''Gürtelbrücke''. From the Wienzeile to the northern end, the dual carriageway is accompanied by the historic

Stadtbahn ' (; German for "city railway"; plural ') is a German word referring to various types of urban rail transport. One type of transport originated in the 19th century, firstly in Berlin and followed by Vienna, where rail routes were created that co ...

viaduct designed by

Otto Wagner Otto Koloman Wagner (; 13 July 1841 – 11 April 1918) was an Austrian architect, furniture designer and urban planner. He was a leading member of the Vienna Secession movement of architecture, founded in 1897, and the broader Art Nouveau move ...

, today operated by the U6

U-Bahn Rapid transit in Germany consists of four U-Bahn systems and fourteen S-Bahn systems. The U-Bahn commonly understood to stand for Untergrundbahn (''underground railway'') are conventional rapid transit systems that run mostly underground, while ...

line.

References

External links

{{commons category-inline Streets in Vienna Ring roads Landstraße Buildings and structures in Wieden Margareten Mariahilf Neubau Josefstadt Alsergrund Meidling Rudolfsheim-Fünfhaus Ottakring Hernals Buildings and structures in Währing Döbling Red-light districts in Austria

History

Layout

Further reading

References

External links