Rathauspark (Vienna)
The Vienna City Hall Park is a 40,000 square meter green area assigned to the Vienna City Hall .
history
The park was created in 1873 on the initiative of Mayor Cajetan Felder in place of the abandoned Austro-Hungarian parade and parade ground on Josefstädter Glacis . It was designed by the city building authority and the city gardener Rudolph Siebeck and consists of two symmetrically arranged parts, each centered around a fountain . The budget was 165,380 guilders (approx. 1.5 million euros).
In the course of planning the 370 meter long and 160 meter wide area, there were some differences. The architect of the town hall, Friedrich von Schmidt , wanted a low planting of shrubs and rose bushes in front of his building. Trees would cover the facade of the town hall. For the same reason, the municipal council also requested low vegetation. Friedrich von Schmidt planned two tall monumental fountains in the park. Furthermore, the area should be crossed by two diagonal streets. City gardener Siebeck submitted a draft for this in October 1870.
Mayor Felder, however, wanted a park in the style of the city park , which should serve as a place of recreation for the citizens. Siebeck rescheduled and built a park lined with trees. He painted the streets and instead laid out winding sidewalks like in a city park. The two monumental fountains were painted and replaced by significantly cheaper fountains. On the day the foundation stone was laid for the town hall, June 14, 1873, the town hall park was completed.
In 1878 Cajetan Felder resigned as mayor and city gardener Siebeck retired. Friedrich von Schmidt immediately tried to redesign the Rathauspark, assisted by the architects Theophil Hansen and Heinrich Ferstel , and the Vienna City Council. In 1879, the new city gardener, Lothar Abel , presented a design for converting the park into a shrubbery lawn. However, it was not possible to implement these plans, so the park kept its shape.
Since adult plants were also used in the creation of the park, some trees are older than the Rathauspark itself. The oldest tree is a maple-leaved plane from 1783; so she is now 237 years old. The plane tree (tree no. 252 in the Vienna tree cadastre) is 30 meters high, has a crown diameter of 21 meters and a trunk circumference of 6 meters.
The park today
Today the park functions on the one hand as a place of relaxation, on the other hand it is included in the area of the events that dominate Vienna's Rathausplatz today ( Ice Dream , Film Festival , Advent Magic etc.) The opening of the Rathauspark took place during the laying of the foundation stone for the Vienna City Hall on June 14th, 1873.
The monuments in the Rathauspark are dedicated to well-known politicians, among the artist monuments the one for Johann Strauss father and Josef Lanner stands out.
There are also a number of exotic plants in the Rathauspark, such as a Japanese pagoda tree , a ginkgo or fan-leaf tree and a split-leaf beech . These botanical peculiarities are marked, as is a red beech that was planted on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the reign of Emperor Franz Joseph I.
photos
General plan
One of the two fountains in the Rathauspark
The numerous events on Rathausplatz require generous toilet facilities
Monument to Karl Renner
Plane tree from 1783
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Exhibition catalog The Unbuilt Vienna - Projects for the Metropolis. Historical Museum of the City of Vienna, 1999, p. 88 ff.
- ^ Vienna environmental property: tree register . City vienna. Retrieved September 30, 2019.
Coordinates: 48 ° 12 ′ 35 " N , 16 ° 21 ′ 33.3" E