The Herrengasse (meaning in

German language German ( ) is a West Germanic language mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official or co-official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and the Italian province of South Tyrol. It is also a ...

: "Street of the Lords" or "Lords Lane") is a street in

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 in the first district

Innere Stadt The Innere Stadt (; Central Bavarian: ''Innare Stod'') is the 1st municipal 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 expanded in 1850, the I ...

History

The street existed during

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...

times as part of the

limes Limes may refer to: * the plural form of lime (disambiguation) Lime commonly refers to: * Lime (fruit), a green citrus fruit * Lime (material), inorganic materials containing calcium, usually calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide * Lime (color), a ...

highway A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It is used for major roads, but also includes other public roads and public tracks. In some areas of the United States, it is used as an equivalent term to controlled-access ...

system A system is a group of interacting or interrelated elements that act according to a set of rules to form a unified whole. A system, surrounded and influenced by its environment, is described by its boundaries, structure and purpose and express ...

. The first written mention of the street dates to 1216. The section of the street between the Freyung and Lobkowitzplatz squares was known during the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

as ''Hochstraße'' (High Street). After Vienna began to establish itself as the

imperial Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imperial, Nebraska * Imperial, Pennsylvania * Imperial, Texas ...

capital Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used fo ...

, the

nobility Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The character ...

(known in German as ''Herren'' or

Lord Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power (social and political), power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the Peerage ...

s) increasingly migrated to the city to be close to the

Hofburg Imperial Palace The Hofburg is the former principal imperial palace of the Habsburg dynasty. Located in the centre of Vienna, it was built in the 13th century and expanded several times afterwards. It also served as the imperial winter residence, as Schönbrun ...

, the residence of the

Habsburg The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...

ruler A ruler, sometimes called a rule, line gauge, or scale, is a device used in geometry and technical drawing, as well as the engineering and construction industries, to measure distances or draw straight lines. Variants Rulers have long ...

s. After the Estates of

Lower Austria Lower Austria (german: Niederösterreich; Austro-Bavarian: ''Niedaöstareich'', ''Niedaestareich'') is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the northeastern corner of the country. Since 1986, the capital of Lower Austria has been Sankt P ...

built their assembly house at the

Palais Niederösterreich ''Palais Niederösterreich'', historically known as the ''Niederösterreichisches Landeshaus'' (''Estates House of Lower Austria''), is a historical building in Vienna. The building housed the estates general of the state of Lower Austria until ...

in 1513, the street was renamed ''Herrengasse''.

Palaces

The typical

layout Layout may refer to: * Page layout, the arrangement of visual elements on a page ** Comprehensive layout (comp), a proposed page layout presented by a designer to their client * Layout (computing), the process of calculating the position of obj ...

of a noble palace (''Palais'') was the entrance facing the street, sometimes set a little way back, with lush

garden A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate bot ...

s located in the back away from public view. Some of the ''Palais'' had multiple entrances from different streets. The Herrengasse used to consist almost exclusively of noble

palace A palace is a grand residence, especially a royal residence, or the home of a head of state or some other high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome which ...

s, though some were lost during the course of time. One of the

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein (german: link=no, Fürstentum Liechtenstein), is a German language, German-speaking microstate located in the Alps between Austria and Switzerland. Liechtenstein is a semi-constit ...

palaces, located at Herrengasse 8, housed the famous ''

Bösendorfer Bösendorfer (L. Bösendorfer Klavierfabrik GmbH) is an Austrian piano manufacturer and, since 2008, a wholly owned subsidiary of Yamaha Corporation. Bösendorfer is unusual in that it produces 97- and 92- key models in addition to instrum ...

-Konzertsaal'', a

concert hall A concert hall is a cultural building with a stage that serves as a performance venue and an auditorium filled with seats. This list does not include other venues such as sports stadia, dramatic theatres or convention centres that ma ...

established in 1872. Famous artists such as

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...

Anton Rubinstein Anton Grigoryevich Rubinstein ( rus, Антон Григорьевич Рубинштейн, r=Anton Grigor'evič Rubinštejn; ) was a Russian pianist, composer and conductor who became a pivotal figure in Russian culture when he founded the Sa ...

Joseph Hellmesberger Jr. Joseph Heinrich Georg Hellmesberger Jr. (9 April 1855 – 26 April 1907), also known as Pepi Hellmesberger, was an Austrian composer, violinist and conductor. Biography Hellmesberger was born in Vienna and was the son of violinist and cond ...

and

Hans von Bülow Freiherr Hans Guido von Bülow (8 January 1830 – 12 February 1894) was a German conductor, virtuoso pianist, and composer of the Romantic era. As one of the most distinguished conductors of the 19th century, his activity was critical for es ...

performed there. The palace was ripped down and replaced by a modernistic high-rise building in 1913. After the dissolution of the

Austro-Hungarian Empire 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 ...

in 1918 and the end of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

in 1945, many

aristocratic Aristocracy (, ) is a form of government that places strength in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocrats. The term derives from the el, αριστοκρατία (), meaning 'rule of the best'. At the time of the word' ...

families had to give up their city homes due to rising costs of upkeep. Many of the buildings were either rented or sold for

commercial Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...

usage as

office An office is a space where an organization's employees perform administrative work in order to support and realize objects and goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific ...

s and

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make th ...

s, or bought by the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government i ...

and used by ministries. The ''Herrengasse'' has nevertheless been able to retain most of its original appearance and relative exclusivity. The building's

architectural Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings o ...

style reaches from the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ide ...

to 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 ...

and neo-baroque periods. A direct

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connection to the U3 line has existed since the 1990s. City palaces (known as ''Palais'') which still exist include: * Palais Herberstein (built in 1897, at Herrengasse 1-3) * Palais Wilczek (former ''Palais Lembruch'', 1737, Herrengasse 5) *

Palais Modena ''Palais Modena'' is a palace in Vienna, Austria. It was built and owned by the Habsburgs of the Austria-Este branch of the family. Today it houses offices of the Federal Ministry of the Interior. External links Modena Modena (, ...

(today Federal Ministry of the Interior, 1811, Herrengasse 7) *

Palais Mollard-Clary Palais Mollard-Clary is a Baroque architecture, Baroque palace in Vienna, Austria. It is located in the first district Innere Stadt, at Herrengasse 9. It was built from 1686 to 1689 for Count of the Holy Roman Empire, Imperial Count Franz Maximili ...

(1689, Herrengasse 9) *

(formerly ''Niederösterreichisches Landeshaus'' states House of Lower Austria 1839–1848, Herrengasse 13) * Palais Ferstel (formerly

Austro-Hungarian Bank The Austro-Hungarian Bank (german: Oesterreichisch-ungarische Bank, hu, Osztrák–Magyar Bank, cs, Rakousko-uherská banka, pl, Bank Austriacko-Węgierski, hr, Austro-Ugarska banka) was the central bank of the Habsburg Monarchy in the 19th a ...

, 1856–1860, Herrengasse 14, entrance also at Freyung 2) * Palais Batthyány (integrates parts of the former ''Palais Orsini-Rosenberg'', 1716, Herrengasse 19) * Palais Trauttmannsdorff (1834–1838, Herrengasse 21) *

Palais Porcia The Palais Porcia is a Baroque mansion in Munich, southern Germany, which served as residence for Count Fugger. It is Munich's oldest still existing Baroque style palace. Building style Enrico Zuccalli built the mansion in Italian baroque ...

(1546, Herrengasse 23) Right next to the ''Herrengasse'' is the Freyung square, where more aristocratic residences are located. Other noble palaces in the vicinity can be found at Minoritenplatz square.

References

* Czeike, Felix (1973). ''Wien: Kunst & Kultur.'' Sueddeutscher Verlag, Munich.

External links

{{Authority control Streets in Vienna Architecture in Austria