Ringstraßen-Stil

Ringstrasse Style (Ringstraßen-Stil), name for the architectural style(s) characteristic of the Vienna (see)Ringstraße and, more widely, the (see)Gründerzeit (age of promoterism) in Vienna, marked by generous planning, sumptuous materials and design, and impressive dignity. Long disparaged as the "style of stylelessness" (H. Benedikt) in line with the esthetic principles of succeeding styles, it is now more appreciated as the "style of liberalism and its optimistic views of life and the economy, and at the same time an expression of the inner turmoil characteristic of a new age no longer committed to a uniform established order" (H. Hantsch). Rationalism and Romanticism form a union typical of the artistic production of the period. Technically and as craftsmen, the protagonists of the Ringstrasse Style were accomplished masters and virtuosos of the representation of emotional values and depth, but rarely capable of the empathy which is the hallmark of the greatest works of art.

Literature: R. Wagner-Rieger ed.), Die Wiener Ringstraße - Bild einer Epoche, 11vols., 1969-79.