The City Hall of Vienna was designed by an Austrian architect Friedrich von Schmidt, built between 1872 and 1883 and replaced the Altes Rathaus (old city hall) in Wipplingerstraße. Von Schmidt had earlier worked on the construction of the Cologne Cathedral; however he gained his greatest fame by the restoration of St. Stephen's Cathedral.
The City Hall was built in Gothic style, with a tower similar to Gothic churches. Today the Rathaus serves as the seat of the mayor and city council of the city of Vienna. Since 1922 Vienna is both city and state, therefore the mayor is also the governor of the capital. The city hall houses the Municipal and state libraries as well as archives which hold many key documents of Vienna's history and a large collection of local memorabilia. The bureaus of the municipal council, regional parliament, regional government and some municipal authorities are located in the 1575 rooms of the building with more than 2000 people working in them.
The building consists of a steeple, surrounded by four further towers. The basic structure of bricks is covered by different natural stones like limestone, slate and marble. There are 331 steps to the top of the City Hall Tower, Two spiral staircases up to 256 stone steps and then another 75 to the highest point. Emperor Francis Joseph made it a condition that the City Hall Tower was not to be higher than the 99 meter spires of Votivkirche. So Friedrich Schmidt had to resort to a ruse to build higher still: the Tower itself is only 97.9 meters high. It is the Rathausmann placed on its top which makes it a total of 104.3 meters.
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| Photo by Amin.Mana |
Located on the highest point of the main tower, the Rathausmann is the statue of an armored knight which Cast from melted-down Russian kopecks (unit of currency for Russian coins). The statue was designed by Franz Gastell. A replica of it stands at the Rathausplatz near the main tower.
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| Photo by Amin.Mana |
The Rathauspark is an attractive garden between the Rathaus and the Ringstrasse. In 1863 Emperor Franz Joseph I eliminated the parade ground that existed at the site and commissioned city gardener Dr. Rudolf Siebeck to design the park. The park has two almost symmetrical sections and is adorned with two fountains and several interesting monuments, among them the statue of the first president of Austria's second Republic, Karl Renner, created in 1967 by Alfred Hrdlicka, memorial to the painter F.G.Waldmüller and the statues of two great composers of waltzes, Johann Strauss (father) and Joseph Lanner created in 1905 by Franz Seifert.
The two parts of the Rathauspark are divided in the middle by a wide square in front of the City Hall; the Rathausplatz is the site of several yearly events, such as winter skating, Music and Film festival during the summer and the most famous of all, the traditional Christkindlmarkt (Christmas market), in the advent season (mid of November till the 24th of December). The Christmas market takes place with an approx. 30 m high Christmas tree and a lot of stands offering Christmas products, hot punch and gingerbread. Rathausplatz is also a hub for political demonstrations such as the 1982 and 1983 peace demonstrations and the International Workers' demonstrations on May 1.
The Festival Hall
A beautiful loggia at the east side of the Rathaus brings visitors to the interior where they'll find majestic stairs which lead to the Festsaal, an enormous banquet hall. When it was built in the late 19th century, the Festival Hall was the biggest hall in the whole country - 71 meters long, 20 meters wide and 18.5 meters high. It is mainly used for large-scale events such as balls, concerts or exhibitions. On the front sides of the hall, there are two orchestra niches whose corners are decorated with relief portraits of four great composers: Mozart, Haydn, Gluck and Schubert. Brilliant lighting is provided by 16 magnificent chandeliers. Another artistic gem of the Festival Hall is the ten statues representing important historical figures set into the arcade columns.
The renovation work on the Rathaus is a massive project to give a new look to this landmark of the city. The work started on September 2012 and is expected to take place in 11 stages until the year 2023. In total the renovation will affect 40,000 m² of stone covering the surface of the town hall and will cost around €35 million.
Guided Tours through the building are offered free of charge on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 13:00 o'clock. (except on meeting days and public holidays)
