Vienna City Hall (German: ''Wiener Rathaus'') is the

seat of local government The seat of government is (as defined by ''Brewer's Politics'') "the building, complex of buildings or the city from which a government exercises its authority". In most countries, the nation’s capital is also seat of its government, thus that ...

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

, located on

Rathausplatz The Rathausplatz is a square in Vienna, Austria. The Rathausplatz is in the Innere Stadt, near the new Rathaus In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in ...

in the

Innere Stadt The Innere Stadt (; Central Bavarian: ''Innare Stod'') is the 1st municipal Districts of Vienna, district of Vienna () located in the center of the Austrian capital. The Innere Stadt is the old town of Vienna. Until the city boundaries were expa ...

district. Constructed from 1872 to 1883 in a

Neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

style according to plans designed by

Friedrich von Schmidt Friedrich von Schmidt (October 22, 1825 – January 23, 1891) was an architect who worked in late 19th century Vienna. Life and career Von Schmidt was born in Frickenhofen, Gschwend, Württemberg, Germany. After studying at the technical hig ...

, it houses the office of the

Mayor of Vienna This is a list of mayors and governors of Vienna since 1282. Vienna is the capital city of Austria. Since 1920, it has also been an Austrian state, with its mayor also doubling as the '' Landeshauptmann'' (governor or minister-president) of th ...

as well as the chambers of the city council and Vienna ''

Landtag A Landtag (State Diet) is generally the legislative assembly or parliament of a federated state or other subnational self-governing entity in German-speaking nations. It is usually a unicameral assembly exercising legislative competence in non- ...

'' diet. For a brief period between 1892-1894, the Vienna City Hall was the world's tallest building, until it was eclipsed by

Milwaukee City Hall The Milwaukee City Hall is a skyscraper and town hall located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. It was finished in 1895, and was Milwaukee's tallest building until completion of the First Wisconsin Center in 1973. The Milwaukee City Hall was ...

History

By the mid 19th century, the offices in the old Vienna town hall, dedicated by the

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...

duke

Frederick the Fair Frederick the Fair (german: Friedrich der Schöne) or the Handsome (c. 1289 – 13 January 1330), from the House of Habsburg, was the duke of Austria and Styria from 1308 as well as the anti-king of Germany from 1314 until 1325 and then co-king ...

in 1316 and rebuilt by the

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

architect

Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach (20 July 1656 – 5 April 1723) was an Austrian architect, sculptor, engraver, and architectural historian whose Baroque architecture profoundly influenced and shaped the tastes of the Habsburg Empire. His infl ...

around 1700, had become too small. When the lavish

Ringstraße 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 ...

was laid out in the 1860s, a competition to build a new city hall was initiated, won by the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

architect Friedrich Schmidt. Mayor

Cajetan Felder Baron Cajetan von Felder (german: link=no, Cajetan Freiherr von Felder; 19 September 1814 – 30 November 1894) was an Austrian lawyer, entomologist and liberal politician. He served as mayor of Vienna from 1868 to 1878. Life and career Felder ...

urged for the location on the boulevard where simultaneously numerous representative buildings were erected, such as the

Vienna State Opera The Vienna State Opera (, ) is an opera house and opera company based in Vienna, Austria. The 1,709-seat Renaissance Revival venue was the first major building on the Vienna Ring Road. It was built from 1861 to 1869 following plans by August S ...

, the

Austrian Parliament Building The Austrian Parliament Building (german: Parlamentsgebäude, colloquially ''das Parlament'') in Vienna is where the two houses of the Austrian Parliament conduct their sessions. The building is located on the ''Ringstraße'' boulevard in the f ...

, the main building of the

Vienna University The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public university, public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the Geogra ...

, or the

Burgtheater The Burgtheater (literally:"Castle Theater" but alternatively translated as "(Imperial) Court Theater"), originally known as '' K.K. Theater an der Burg'', then until 1918 as the ''K.K. Hofburgtheater'', is the national theater of Austria in Vi ...

. Construction costs amounted to a total of about 14 million

florins The Florentine florin was a gold coin struck from 1252 to 1533 with no significant change in its design or metal content standard during that time. It had 54 grains (3.499 grams, 0.113 troy ounce) of nominally pure or 'fine' gold with a purcha ...

, borne by both the City of Vienna and the Imperial-Royal (''k.k.'') government after lengthy debate.

Big Build

The design of the richly adorned facade is modelled on the

Gothic architecture Gothic architecture (or pointed architecture) is an architectural style that was prevalent in Europe from the late 12th to the 16th century, during the High and Late Middle Ages, surviving into the 17th and 18th centuries in some areas. It e ...

Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...

and

Brabant Brabant is a traditional geographical region (or regions) in the Low Countries of Europe. It may refer to: Place names in Europe * London-Brabant Massif, a geological structure stretching from England to northern Germany Belgium * Province of Bra ...

secular buildings like the

Brussels Town Hall The Town Hall (french: Hôtel de Ville, Dutch: ) of the City of Brussels is a landmark building and the seat of the City of Brussels municipality of Brussels, Belgium. It is located on the south side of the famous Grand-Place/Grote Markt (Brus ...

. It features five towers including the central tower with a height of . On 21 October 1882, the ''

Rathausmann Rathausmann is a monument on the top of the city hall in Rathaus, Vienna, Austria. Rathausmann is one of the symbols of Vienna. The statue itself is 5.4 meters tall (including flagpole), and its armor was modeled after that of Emperor Maximilian ...

'' statue was installed on the top, which soon became one of the symbols of Vienna. The structure itself, spread over an area of , is arranged around seven inner-courtyards, more along Baroque lines. A total space of about is spread over thirty floors and two basements with 2,987 rooms. It is largely built with bricks decorated with

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

, mainly from the

Leitha Mountains The Leitha Mountains or, less frequently, Leitha Hills (german: Leithagebirge; hu, Lajta-hegység), are a range of hills in Austria lying on the boundary between Lower Austria and Burgenland. The range is an offshoot of the Alps and forms a conn ...

, and

ashlar Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruv ...

masonry. The Rathaus also accommodates the historic 'Wiener Rathauskeller' restaurant. The traditional restaurant consists of several baroque halls, offering small traditional Viennese delicacies to grand gala buffets. Facing the city hall is the large

Rathauspark Rathauspark is a 40,000 square meter park in Vienna, Austria, located across the street from the Vienna City Hall. History The Emperor Franz Joseph I, in 1863, made known his desire to transform the area into a city park for the residents of V ...

Structure

The Vienna City Hall has the following structure from top to bottom: * Main Tower (

) * Attic Storey * 2nd Floor * 1st Floor * Half-Floor * Ground Floor * 1st Basement * 2nd Basement

Main Tower

Atop the steeple of the 98-meter high tower, stands the 3.4-meter tall

; an iron standard bearer. It was designed by Alexander Nehr, and donated by master locksmith and factory owner Ludwig Wilhelm. The statue was attached to the spire on 21 October 1932.

1st Floor

The ballroom can be found on the first floor at the front of the hall, with views of the ring road,

, and inner city. The 1st floor ballroom is 71 meters long and spans a width of 20 meters. The ballroom runs adjacent to the banqueting hall, also adjoining with the north buffet and armorial hall. The Municipal Council Meeting Room and Municipal Senate Meeting Room are both also part of the first floor.

Ground Floor

There are numerous entry points into the Vienna City Hall via the ground floor. There are entrances to the north, south, and west. The Volkshalle, or "People's Hall", is located on the ground floor, right below the first floor ballroom. The Volkshalle is used nowadays to host events. Additionally, since 1927, the town hall guard, a special unit of the Viennese professional fire brigade, has resided in the ground floor of the town hall for security. Their duties include standard fire response duties and disaster control.

1st Basement

The first basement, also called the ''Vienna City Hall cellar'', was first opened on 12 February 1899. The artistic design was overseen by Josef Urban, and the historical murals by Heinrich Lefler. The first basement contains numerous rooms including the Knights' Hall, the Green Hall, and the Grinzinger Keller. There were extensive renovations performed in 1925, 1952, and 2005, where historical murals and woodwork were fully refurbished.

Renovation work

On September 27, 2012 renovation work started on what is expected to be a 35 million euro project to renovate the building by the year 2023 when the work – expected to take place in 11 stages and affecting 40,000 m² – will be complete. Recently finished renovations (2000) include the grand re-opening of the neo-baroque Salon Ziehrer and the redesigned Lanner-Lehar Hall with wall and ceiling murals by German

Trompe-l'œil ''Trompe-l'œil'' ( , ; ) is an artistic term for the highly realistic optical illusion of three-dimensional space and objects on a two-dimensional surface. ''Trompe l'oeil'', which is most often associated with painting, tricks the viewer into ...

artist

Rainer Maria Latzke Rainer Maria Latzke (born 28 December 1950) is a German artist working in the field of ''trompe-l'œil'' and mural painting. He taught at the Utah State University and is founder of the Institute of Frescography. Latzke is Honorary Professor o ...

Gallery

File:Rathaus Vienna Eistraum 2005 Nightshot.JPG, City hall at night File:GuentherZ 2005-10-06 0089 Rathausmann.jpg, Rathausmann at the top

References

External links

Official Homepage of the Vienna City Hall

Das Wiener Rathaus – Der Neubau 1868

Bundesdenkmalamt – Rathaus Wien

Website of the Viennese city government
{{Coord, 48, 12, 39, N, 16, 21, 25, E, type:landmark_region:AT-9, display=title

Rathaus In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

City and town halls in Austria Government buildings completed in 1883 1883 establishments in Austria