Publisher's Synopsis
When the old seat of Habsburg power was transformed into a modern metropolis, the imperial residence assumed unexpected proportions. Beginning in 1860 Emperor Franz Joseph I moved all of the major political and cultural buildings of the city—from the opera and the theater to the parliament, city hall, university, and even the Kaiserforum—to the area where the old city defenses had once formed a ring around Vienna. The world's largest construction site at the time, the famous Ringstrasse later became a place where the prosperous middle class established a site for their own building projects, which rivaled those of the court and nobility. This volume brings the "society of the Ringstrasse" to life; it tells the story of the architects and artists involved in this fascinating ensemble and of everyday life behind the façades. Contemporary photographs capture the wealth of this architectural legacy and are shown alongside previously unpublished historical photographs. (English edition ISBN 978-3-7757-3773-9).
