Around the concert
An evening on the Ringstraße
How to shape an evening around the Börse Palace concert: the Ringstraße's history, the Hansen buildings along it and a simple plan around the music.
Take a seat at the Börse ↗Quick answer
The Börse stands on the Ringstraße, the 5.3 km boulevard that replaced Vienna's city walls after Emperor Franz Joseph's decree of 1857. Theophil Hansen, who designed the Börse, also designed the Parliament on the same Ring. A simple evening is an early concert followed by a walk on the Ring and dinner, or dinner first and a later concert.
The boulevard that replaced the walls
The Ringstraße is a 5.3 km circular boulevard around the Innere Stadt, built where the city walls once stood. In 1857 Emperor Franz Joseph issued the decree ordering the walls and moats demolished and setting out the new road and its buildings. Aristocrats and rich private citizens rushed to build palaces in the historicist Ringstraße style, and the work was not finished until 1913. UNESCO places the Ring inside its World Heritage listing for the Historic Centre of Vienna.
Hansen's Ring
Theophil Hansen was one of the Ring's most important architects. His buildings include the Palais Todesco from 1861 to 1864, the Academy of Fine Arts from 1871 to 1876, the Börse from 1874 to 1877 and the Parliament from 1874 to 1883. He designed the Börse and the Parliament at the same time. The Parliament is built like an ancient temple, a reference to the Greek beginnings of democracy, while the Börse is a neo-Renaissance palace. Seeing both gives a measure of the architect.
The Ring's style
The Ringstraße style is historicism: buildings that borrow the forms of older periods. Hansen's Börse is neo-Renaissance, his Parliament is neo-classical, and neighbouring buildings along the Ring use other styles. By the time the Ring was finished in 1913 the style had gone out of fashion, which Otto Wagner's Art Nouveau Postal Savings Bank of 1906, opposite the Ministry of War, shows. A short walk along the Ring is therefore a tour of changing taste, with the Börse in the middle of the story.
Before the concert
If you book the early start, use the afternoon to walk the Ring or to visit one museum, and plan to reach Wipplingerstraße 34 with a margin. The outside of the Börse is worth a slow look in daylight: the sculpted frieze and the figures on the roofline are easiest to see before dark. A short coffee break near the building leaves time to find the entrance, and the cloakroom is part of the ticket, so you can arrive with your coat and leave it at the door.
After the concert
A walk along part of the Ring after the music is the simplest way to end the night. Trams run along parts of the Ring, so the walk can finish with a ride. For dinner, book ahead on weekends, tell the restaurant what time the concert ends and allow for the interval and for collecting your coat. If you have booked a Konzerthaus date, the plan changes, because that building lies in the third district beyond the Ring.
Where the Ring begins and ends
The Ring runs clockwise from the Urania to the Schottenring and is divided into nine parts. The Börse stands on the Schottenring, so a walk that begins at the Börse follows the Ring in its own direction of travel. The Ring is a three-lane one-way road with bike lanes on both sides, so cross it only at the crossings. The Ring is long, so do not plan to walk all of it before a concert; choose a stretch, and let the tram carry you the rest.
If you only have one evening
Choose one anchor and let everything else fit around it. The anchor is the concert, so pick the date, check the room and then book dinner. A first evening in Vienna goes best with a short, varied programme such as this one, then a late meal, rather than with a long concert and a rushed dinner. The ticket gives 1.5 hours, so even a first-night concert leaves room for a proper meal if you plan the start time sensibly.
Frequently asked questions
How long is the Ringstraße?
5.3 km, as a circular boulevard around the Innere Stadt.
Who designed the Börse and the Parliament?
Theophil Hansen designed both, working on them at the same time.
Is the Ring a World Heritage Site?
UNESCO includes the Ring in the Historic Centre of Vienna World Heritage Site.
Should I eat before or after?
Either works. Pick the early start for dinner after the concert, or the later start for dinner first.
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