Circle of Fame - Ring Boulevard June 27th, 2008

The Ringstraße is a circular road surrounding the Innere Stadt district of Vienna, Austria and is one of its main sights. It is typical of the historical style called Ringstraßenstil of the 1860s to 1890s. The street was built to replace the city walls, which had been built during the 13th century and reinforced as a consequence of the First Turkish Siege in 1529, and instead of the glacis, which was about 500m wide.

In 1857, Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria issued his famous decree “It is My will” ordering the demolition of the city walls and moats. In his decree, he laid out the exact size of the boulevard, as well as the geographical positions and functions of the new building. The Ringstraße and the planned buildings were intended to be a showcase for imperial Habsburg grandeur and the glory of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. On the practical level, Emperor Napoléon III of France already demonstrated with his oulevard-building in Paris how enlarging the size of the streets effectively made the erection of revolutionary barricades impossible.

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