Text 2 Vienna’s architecture

Read the text and make a list of the most famous architectural buildings and their styles.

Vienna has preserved its architectural style despite many historical changes.

Prominently situated in the centre of Vienna is St. Stephen’s Cathedral (Stephensdom), one of the chief Gothic buildings of Europe. It incorporates remnants of the original 12^th century Romanesque structure, which was destroyed by the fire. Reconstruction began in the early 14^th century and continued for a century and a half. The cathedral was again burned and partly destroyed in World War II but has since been restored. Other Gothic churches include the Church of the Augustinians, the Church of Maria am Gestade, and the Church of the Friars Minor (officially the Snow Madonna Italian National Church), all dating from the 14^th century.

Vienna’s oldest church St. Ruprecht’s is believed to have originally been erected in 740. The Church of St. Peter built in 1702–33 is a fine example of a Baroque structure. Other examples of Baroque art are the richly frescoed University Church (1627–31) and the Church of Capuchins (1632), which contains the crypt of the Habsburg imperial family. The Church of the Scots (1155), together with a monastery for Scottish and Irish monks, was rebuilt in late Italian Renaissance style in 1638–48.

The style of most of the finest secular buildings, such as the Harach and Kinsky palaces and the winter palace of Prince Eugene of Savoy, is Baroque, Vienna’s leading architectural style in the 17^th and 18^th centuries.

The vast complex of the Imperial Palace consists of a number of buildings of various periods and styles, the oldest part dating from the 13^th century and the latest from the end of the 19^th. It houses the imperial treasury of the Holy Roman and Austrian empires, Austrian National Library, several other museums and the Spanish Riding School. The state apartments in one wing of the palace serve as the offices of Austria’s president. Close by stands the Privy Court Chancery (1716–21), where the Congress of Vienna met after the Napoleonic War.

The other important buildings include the Stock Exchange in Neoclassical-Renaissance style, the University of Vienna, the oldest university in the German-speaking world, designed in the Italian Renaissance style. The university was founded in 1365, but original buildings have disappeared.

Another landmark is the City Hall in neo-Flemish-Gothic with Renaissance touches, and facing it is the Burgtheater, in a mixture of neo-Italian-High Renaissance with Baroque indulgences. The Neoclassical Parliament building lies adjacement to the Palace of Justice, built in 16^th-century German Renaissance style. The neo-Renaissance Natural History Museum stands in front of an exhibition centre, formerly the royal stables, and eastwards is the magnificent Vienna State Opera House, built in 1861–69. Purporting to be French early Renaissance, the State Opera is actually a conglomeration of various architectural styles, of pinnacles, arcades and colonnades.

Another noble structure is the Belvedere, which is actually two Baroque palaces at either end of a terraced garden. It was built for the soldier and statesman Prince Eugene of Savoy. A few streets away from the Church of St. Charles is the Theater an der Wien, built between 1789 and 1801. Mozart conducted the first performance of The Magic Flute in 1791 in the theatre’s wooden predecessor, and Beethoven’s Fidelio had its premiere in the newly constructed theatre in 1805. All of the celebrated operetta composers of the 19^th century presented works on its stage. Now it operates as an orchestra hall.