Kaiserforum Vienna: crowning the emblematic Ringstraße

The Ringstraße, that with the Franz-Josef-Kai encircles the historic centre of Vienna, is one of the main tourist attractions of the city. This is no coincidence as this was part of the purpose this ceremonial belt road was designed for. Built on the former Glacis after the fortifications were dismantled between 1857 and '65 the Ringstraße was to be the focus of the newly modernised Vienna as a broad boulevard lined with trees and many representative buildings along it. The crowning glory was to be the Kaiserforum. The ideas for a new culltural forum were part of the planning from the beginning and were modelled after Albertopolis (1851-1907) in London.

The Kaiserforum within the context of the Ringstraße was to be an extension of the Hofburg palace towards the Hofstallungen as a large open space

The Kaiserforum is basically a large square at a right angle to the Ringstraße with several large buildings around it. The complex was designed by Gottfried Semper who also came up with the name. This Imperial Forum off course is an illusion to the classical Forum of Roman times. Sempers plans involved creating a formal space surrounded by a symmetrical ensemble of buildings. For this to work, the Hofburg Palace had to be given a new front facade as this building complex was little more than a collection of wings around courtyards in various styles. A new building tract would serve as a symmetrical facade with two new wings framing the open space north of the Ringstraße. On the southside the Hofstallungen (Royal Stables) designed by the baroque architect Fisher von Erlach would form the backdrop to the ensemble with two new wings on either side to frame the large square. A triumphal arch was also part of the design and marked the end of the northern square on the Ringstraße.

Work started on the remodelling of the stables to make them suitable for housing the imperial collection of paintings. This work was completed around 1865. In 1870 emperor Franz Joseph gave the go-ahead for the whole project and work started on the Kunsthistorisches Museum (Museum of Art History) and the Naturhistorisches Museum (Museum of Naturel History). This part of the Kaiserforum was finally completed in 1891. The rest of the large-scale cultural forum was also slow to be realised.

In 1913 the southern wing of the so-called Neue Burg (New Palace) was completed. The long time between completion and planning was partly due to the enormous costs involved, but it was also problematic to find a functional use for the vast buildings. The northern wing - the mirror image of the southern wing- was never built because of the outbreak of WWI and the subsequent foundation of the first Austrian Republic in 1918. The end of the monarchy also meant the end of royal patronage and thus the end of the Imperial Forum.  

The Kaiserforum now comprises of the Hofburg (H), the Hofstallungen (S), The Musuem of Art History (A), the Mueseum of Natural History (N), The Triumphal Arch (T) and the southwing of the Neue Burg (B). To the side ly the Volksgarten (V) with the Thetis temple and the Burggarten (B).

Recently plans have been put forward to complete the scheme as was intended by adding the northern wing on the Heldenplatz. This would definitely improve the space of the Forum itself, but also better define the Volksgarten, one of the parks that serve as wings to the cultural forum and thus embed the scheme within the Ringstraße.