Architecture and Vienna
TIP:
Admire the magnificent buildings along the Ringstraße in Vienna after your German course. This is very comfortable and cheap. Directly in front of your German course at DeutschAkademie are stops for tram routes 1 and 2. They travel along the Ringstrasse. The special thing: You can stay in the tramcar as long as you like and go around the city several times. The best thing is to go around the Ring some time after a German course and be amazed!
Your German course on the Vienna Ringstraße
Around the turn of the century Vienna was, alongside London and Paris, Europe’s leading metropolis, and that is reflected in the architecture.
Your German course at DeutschAkademie is directly on the Ringstrasse, one of Europe’s most magnificent streets. It was build in the second half of the 19th Century by the best architects of the time, is a complete work of art with generous boulevards, streets, parks, countless magnificent buildings, and surrounds the Inner City of Vienna like a city wall. UNESCO has placed the Inner City on the World Cultural Heritage List.
If you learn German at the DeutschAkademie, you will find yourself in the middle of this impressive architectural landscape. So straight after your German course you can look at Vienna’s most beautiful buildings.
Various eras in Vienna, a few steps away from your German course
If you have a German course at DeutschAkademie, Vienna has something to offer from almost every period of building. The Stephansdom is late Roman and Gothic. The Swiss Wing of the Vienna Imperial Palace got its form in the Renaissance. The great cupola over the two-storey building of the Art History Museum is also strongly reminiscent of Italian Renaissance buildings.
The cityscape was however especially marked by the baroque style. The Habsburg Empire blossomed in this time and this power was manifested in architecture. The most significant Viennese baroque buildings are the Belvedere castle, Schönbrunn, and the Karlskirche on the Karlsplatz. You can reach the Karlskirche and Karlsplatz from your German course at DeutschAkademie Vienna in five minutes on foot. The Belvedere castle was built by Johann Lukas von Hildebrandt. The Schönbrunn castle and the Karlskirche were built by Johann Bernard Fischer von Erlach.
The Jugendstil also had a great flowering in Vienna. The best-known buildings worldwide from this era are the Secession, the Karlsplatz railway station (all a few steps away from your German course) and Otto Wagner’s church on the Steinhof.
Contemporary architecture in Vienna and your German course
The Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser is very controversial because of his love of bright colours and round forms, and has designed two buildings in Vienna which represent major tourist attractions: the Hundertwasserhaus and the Vienna district heating building. Modern constructions of glass and steel can be found north of the Danube around the UN City, but also on Stephansplatz, just a few steps away from your German course in the first Vienna community district. The Haas-Haus was designed by the Austrian architect Hans Hollein.