Vienna City Hall

The Rathaus was built between 1872 and 1883 by Friedrich von Schmidt, who had worked on Cologne cathedral, and the style is deliberate: neo-Gothic rather than the classical or Renaissance idioms used elsewhere on the Ring, because the Gothic town hall was the architecture of the free medieval city and the burghers of Vienna wanted that association against the imperial buildings opposite. The tower reaches about a hundred metres to the tip of the Rathausmann, an armoured standard-bearer added at the top - the story runs that the emperor limited the tower's height so it would not outdo the Votivkirche, and the statue got round it. The square in front carries the Christmas market, an ice rink in winter, a film and music festival in summer, and the building is toured on set days.

History

By 1850 the old town hall on Wipplingerstraße was too small for the growing city, and once the walls came down for the Ringstraße a competition was held in 1868, won by the German architect Friedrich von Schmidt; Mayor Cajetan Felder secured the site on the Josefstädter Glacis, a former parade ground, in 1870. Building began in May 1872, the foundation stone was laid on 14 June 1873, the last stone was set on 12 September 1883, the 200th anniversary of the relief of Vienna in 1683, and the city council moved in on 23 June 1885; the building, 152 metres long and 127 wide, has 1,575 rooms and cost about 14 million florins, shared by the city and the imperial government (Wikipedia, Vienna City Hall).

What you'll find

• Neo-Gothic on the Ring - the burgher style chosen against the imperial buildings.
• The Rathausmann - the armoured figure on the hundred-metre tower.
• Arcaded courtyards - the inner courts used for concerts in summer.
• A square in constant use - Christmas market, ice rink and film festival by season.

When to go

All year; December for the market, summer for the film festival. An hour or two.

Good to know

Interior access is by guided tour on set days only. The square is occupied by an event most of the year, which changes what you can see and photograph. Tours are mainly in German.

Nearby

The Burgtheater is opposite; the parliament and the university are on the same stretch of Ring.

Key facts