Schwarzenbergplatz

Name: Schwarzenbergplatz
Address: Vienna, Austria

Schwarzenbergplatz is a plaza in the Austrian capital of Vienna. It is more of a tiny, open street than a square, and it connects the Kärntner Ring segment of the Ringstraße to Lothringerstraße. After passing Kärntner Ring, the street Schwarzenbergstraße becomes Schwarzenbergplatz.

Schwarzenbergplatz then becomes Rennweg Straße after passing through the massive enclosed parks of Belvedere-Garten and the Palais Schwarzenberg, as well as the Schwarzenberggarten to the west. On exhibit is a massive equestrian statue of Austrian field marshal Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg, who fought valiantly in the Napoleonic Wars.

Traffic

Soon after its construction, Schwarzenbergplatz became a major traffic intersection.Lines of the horse-drawn tramway stretched from here to Favoriten and Sankt Marx in 1873.The railway connecting to Sankt Marx was extended to the Vienna Central Cemetery in 1901 and immediately electrified.Since 1907, tram line 71 has ran along this route.It was expanded in December 2012 from Schwarzenbergplatz to Schottenring, Börse through the Ringstrasse.

Schwarzenbergplatz is also served by tram line D, which runs from the city center to Südbahnhof, which was demolished in 2010, since December 2012 to the new main station (east side), and since 2019 to Absberggasse in Favoriten, as well as city bus lines 2A and 4A.Some night bus lines stop here as well.

Rennweg, Vienna’s old arterial route leading to Pressburg and Budapest, begins near the south-eastern end of Schwarzenbergplatz.The Prinz-Eugen-Straße leads southwest from the plaza to the Belvedere and the Gurtel.The Lothringerstraße (see also Zweierlinie ), which connects Karlsplatz to the Stadtpark on the arched Wien river, spans the plaza in the center.The Kärntner Ring and Schubertring, located at the northern end of the plaza, are part of the ring road that surrounds the medieval city center.

Notable buildings at Schwarzenbergplatz

The buildings that surround the square are officially numbered clockwise, beginning at the closest point to the center, at the corner of Schubertring, and are likewise listed in this sequence below. There were just six house numbers on Schwarzenbergplatz until the neighboring street area to the south was incorporated in 1904, three on each side between Ring and Lothringerstrasse.

No. 1: Palais Archduke Ludwig Viktor

Heinrich Ferstel was commissioned to build two mansions in 1863.The Palais Archduke Ludwig Viktor, which was erected from 1864 to 1866 for Archduke Ludwig Viktor on the (eastern) corner of the Schubertring (1st district), was rebuilt in 1900, purchased by the state in 1910, and hosted the military casino from 1911 until 1939.Today, the Burgtheater serves as a venue for the casino on Schwarzenbergplatz (since 1981), the Alt-Neustädter organization (= alumni of the military college in Wiener Neustadt), and the Officers’ Society.Ferstel designed the aforementioned second palace, No. 17, and coordinated the façade of both structures.

No. 2: Palais Wiener von Welten

The Palais Wiener von Welten, erected in 1869 on the eastern side of the square (1st district), was planned for Eduard Wiener von Welten by the architects August Schwandernwein and Johann Romano.The smallest vineyard in Vienna is located in the palace’s front lawn, as is the Spanish Cultural Institute.

No. 3: formerly Directorate of the State Railway Company

The administration building of the kk priv. sterreichische Staats-Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft (a private Austrian railway company that was only nationalized and integrated into the state railways in 1909) was built in 1868-1870 on the corner of Lothringerstraße (eastern side, 1st district) according to plans by Heinrich Ferstel.The structure burnt down after being struck by a bomb in 1945, was demolished in 1950, and was only replaced in 1983 by a new building with a historicist façade based on Georg Lippert’s ideas.The property at Schwarzenbergplatz 3 is currently the Russian Sberbank’s European headquarters.

No. 4: House of Industry

The late historicist House of Industry was erected on the south-east side of the square (3rd district) between 1907 and 1908 (inscription on the building) according to plans by Karl König at the corner of Lothringerstraße. It is still the Austrian Federation of Industrialists’ headquarters.From 1945 through 1955, the Allied Commission for Austria convened here.It last met on July 27, 1955, the day the Austrian State Treaty entered into force, and held the last Allied military parade in front of the house before the four nations’ occupying forces left the country in October 1955.

No. 5: formerly Palais Pollack-Parnau

The Palais Pollack-Parnau, erected sometime before 1914, was located at the start of the Rennweg (3rd district).The building belonged to the Jewish industrialist family Pollack von Parnau, who were evicted by the Nazis in 1938, and it was “Aryanized.”During WWII, bombing strikes severely destroyed the palace, and the family ultimately sold the remains.Steyr Daimler Puch constructed an office building in the 1950s, which was replaced around 2000 by a new steel and glass structure located deeper in the plaza.

#6: Palais Fanto

The Arnold Schönberg Center is housed in the Palais Fanto, the former Austrian brandy monopoly’s corner building between Daffingerstraße and Zaunergasse (3rd district) erected in 1917/1918 by Ernst Gotthilf and Alexander Neumann.

No. 8: Former Stadtkino

Until 2013, this building at the start of Rennweg (3rd district) held the ” Stadtkino “, a non-commercial cinema (subsidiary of the Viennale ). The well-known Vienna hairdresser salon Bundy & Bundy is also located here.Since 1916, there has been a cinema (previously Schwarzenbergkino or Kammerlichtspiele ). The Künstlerhaus Wien signed a 20-year deal with the Viennale at the end of 2012, under which the Stadtkino gave up this location and has been functioning as the “Stadtkino im Künstlerhaus” on Karlsplatz since September 2013.

No. 9: Palais Schwarzenberg

Palais Schwarzenberg was constructed long before Schwarzenbergplatz, at the foot of a slope that stretches to Landstrasser Gurtel and is partially occupied by the palace garden.The Palais in the 3rd district, between Rennweg and Prinz-Eugen-Strasse, is only visible from a distance now, since it is “hidden” behind the Hochstrahlbrunnen and the Heroes’ Monument, as well as by a wide forecourt that has moved away from the square with outbuildings.

High Jet Fountain and Heroes’ Monument

The Hochstrahlbrunnen, built in 1873, and the Red Army Heroes’ Monument, built behind it in 1945, are located in the third district, between buildings 8 and 11 and in front of building 9.

No. 11: European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights

The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, abbreviated FRA (Fundamental Rights Agency), has been headquartered in the old Gutmann mansion, which was erected in 1875/1876 at the corner of Gußhausstraße (4th district) according to plans by Heinrich Claus and Joseph Groß.During WWII, the headquarters of the Air District Command were stationed here.After the Federal Ministry of Trade and Reconstruction left, the building was taken as “German property” by the Soviet occupying troops in 1952.The Austrian Communist Party’s headquarters were here from 1953 to 1957.During the Palace of Justice’s overall restoration from 2001 to 2007, the Vienna Regional Court for Civil Law was situated here.

No. 12: French Embassy

The French embassy was built between 1904 and 1912 on the western side of the square (4th district), between Technikerstraße and Brucknerstraße, towards the beginning of Prinz-Eugen-Straße, according to plans by Parisian architect Georges Chedanne.It is also an important “Art Nouveau” work outside of France due to its interior design.

No. 14: House of the Viennese Merchants

The house of the Viennese merchants on the western side of the square at the corner of Lothringerstraße (4th district), designed by Ernst Gotthilf and Oskar Neumann in neo-baroque style and conceived from the start as an office building, was ceremonially opened by Emperor Franz Joseph I on November 7, 1903.It now contains the Vienna Chamber of Commerce’s commerce, transportation and traffic, and information and consultancy sections.

Georg-Raphael-Donner-Monument

Richard Kauffungen constructed a bronze monument by sculptor Georg Raphael Donner (1692-1741) between buildings 14 and 15, at the junction with Lothringerstraße (1st district), in 1906.The memorial was destroyed during WWII and reconstructed in 1947.

No. 15: Palais Ofenheim

The Palais Ofenheim was erected in 1868 for railway manufacturer Viktor Ofenheim Ritter von Pontreuxin on the north-west corner of the junction of Lothringerstrasse (1st district) to plans by architects August Schwandernwein and Johann Romano and was number 4 until 1904. It has been owned by Zürich Versicherung Austria since 1931 and is used as an office building.

No. 17: Palais Wertheim

The businessman Franz von Wertheim commissioned Heinrich Ferstel to build the Palais Wertheim on the corner of Kärntner Ring 18 (1st district) in 1868 as a counterpoint to the Palais at No. 1.It was formerly number 6 until 1904, when it was renovated into a residential and office building.The first Austrian McDonald’s opened on the ground level of the Palais on July 27, 1978.Previously, the pharmacy “Zum goldenen Adler” had been in operation in the corner bar since 1870, advertised in the business directory as “English & foreign chemist” in 1893, carried all English and French preparations, and in 1911 moved to the house across the street at Kärntner Ring 17, where it still operates today.

History

The majority of today’s Schwarzenberg plaza was occupied by Vienna’s city walls until the mid-nineteenth century. Following the removal of the city walls between 1858 and 1863, these regions became accessible for construction, and splendid structures were built here in the second part of the nineteenth century, akin to the Ringstraßenpalais.

The Schwarzenberg Monument was commissioned by Emperor Franz Joseph I in 1861 to honor the successful commander of the 1813 Battle of Leipzig, Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg. Ernst Hähnel constructed the equestrian statue, which was finished in October 1867.

On 23 October 1873, Franz Joseph I attended the commemorating ceremony of the First Vienna Mountain Spring Pipeline in front of the Palais Schwarzenberg (in an area that was not then considered part of Schwarzenberg Platz).

The Red Army unveiled the War Memorial (now generally known as the Russian Monument) near the Hochstrahlbrunnen fountain in August 1945, shortly after World War II ended. A Soviet T-34 tank was stationed there until 1955. During the occupation, the southern section of the area was renamed Stalin area on April 12, 1946, and this name remained in place until July 18, 1956. Until 1955, the “Haus der Industrie” (House of Industry), at No. 4 Stalin Square, served as the headquarters of the Allied Council of the four occupying countries.

In 2003 and 2004, Spanish architect Alfredo Arribas redesigned Schwarzenberg Square and installed subterranean lighting pieces symbolizing various lighting effects. The little green places that had previously existed were lost during the reconstruction process, much to the chagrin of the population. There was especially intense criticism to the replacement of the mostly still-existing slender light poles from 1904 with lighting fixtures that critics saw as ugly and cumbersome.

The Wien River and the U4 subterranean line run beneath Schwarzenberg Square, which was also the site of the “Zwingburg,” a sanctuary for destitute people who withdrew into the Viennese sewers.

Vienna, Austria