The Herrengasse (meaning in

German language German (, ) is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family, mainly spoken in Western Europe, Western and Central Europe. It is the majority and Official language, official (or co-official) language in Germany, Austria, Switze ...

: "Street of the Lords" or "Lords Lane") is a street in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, located in the first district

Innere Stadt The Innere Stadt (; ; "Inner City") is the 1st municipal Districts of Vienna, district of Vienna () located in the center of the Austrian capital. The Innere Stadt is the old town of Vienna. Until the city boundaries were expanded in 1850, the I ...

History

The street existed during

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

times as part of the

limes Limes may refer to: * ''Limes'' (Roman Empire), a border marker and defense system of the Roman Empire * ''Limes'' (Italian magazine), an Italian geopolitical magazine * ''Limes'' (Romanian magazine), a Romanian literary and political quarterly ma ...

highway A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It includes not just major roads, but also other public roads and rights of way. In the United States, it is also used as an equivalent term to controlled-access highway, or ...

system A system is a group of interacting or interrelated elements that act according to a set of rules to form a unified whole. A system, surrounded and influenced by its open system (systems theory), environment, is described by its boundaries, str ...

. The first written mention of the street dates to 1216. The section of the street between the Freyung and Lobkowitzplatz squares was known during the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

as ''Hochstraße'' (High Street). After Vienna began to establish itself as the imperial

capital Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...

, the

nobility Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally appointed by and ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. T ...

(known in German as ''Herren'' or

Lord Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power (social and political), power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the Peerage o ...

s) increasingly migrated to the city to be close to the

Hofburg Imperial Palace The Hofburg () is the former principal imperial palace of the Habsburg dynasty in Austria. Located in the center of Vienna, it was built in the 13th century by Ottokar II of Bohemia and expanded several times afterwards. It also served as the im ...

, the residence of the

Habsburg The House of Habsburg (; ), also known as the House of Austria, was one of the most powerful dynasties in the history of Europe and Western civilization. They were best known for their inbreeding and for ruling vast realms throughout Europe d ...

ruler A ruler, sometimes called a rule, scale, line gauge, or metre/meter stick, is an instrument used to make length measurements, whereby a length is read from a series of markings called "rules" along an edge of the device. Usually, the instr ...

s. After the Estates of

Lower Austria Lower Austria ( , , abbreviated LA or NÖ) is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the northeastern corner of the country. Major cities are Amstetten, Lower Austria, Amstetten, Krems an der Donau, Wiener Neustadt and Sankt Pölten, which ...

built their assembly house at the

Palais Niederösterreich ''Palais Niederösterreich'', historically known as the ''Niederösterreichisches Landeshaus'' (''Estates House of Lower Austria''), is a historical building in Vienna. The building housed the estates general of the state of Lower Austria until ...

in 1513, the street was renamed ''Herrengasse''.

Palaces

The typical

layout In general terms, a layout is a structured arrangement of items within certain limits, or a plan for such arrangement. Specifically, layout may refer to: * Page layout, the arrangement of visual elements on a page ** Comprehensive layout (comp), ...

of a noble palace (''Palais'') was the entrance facing the street, sometimes set a little way back, with lush

garden A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate bot ...

s located in the back away from public view. Some of the ''Palais'' had multiple entrances from different streets. The Herrengasse used to consist almost exclusively of

noble A noble is a member of the nobility. Noble may also refer to: Places Antarctica * Noble Glacier, King George Island * Noble Nunatak, Marie Byrd Land * Noble Peak, Wiencke Island * Noble Rocks, Graham Land Australia * Noble Island, Gr ...

palace A palace is a large residence, often serving as a royal residence or the home for a head of state or another high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome whi ...

s, though some were lost during the course of time. One of the

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (, ; ; ), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein ( ), is a Landlocked country#Doubly landlocked, doubly landlocked Swiss Standard German, German-speaking microstate in the Central European Alps, between Austria in the east ...

palaces, located at Herrengasse 8, housed the famous ''

Bösendorfer Bösendorfer (L. Bösendorfer Klavierfabrik GmbH) is an Austrian piano manufacturer and, since 2008, a wholly owned subsidiary of Yamaha Corporation. Bösendorfer is unusual in that it produces Imperial Bösendorfer, 97- and 92-Key (instrument) ...

-Konzertsaal'', a

concert hall A concert hall is a cultural building with a stage (theatre), stage that serves as a performance venue and an auditorium filled with seats. This list does not include other venues such as sports stadia, dramatic theatres or convention ...

established in 1872. Famous artists such as

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt (22 October 1811 – 31 July 1886) was a Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor and teacher of the Romantic music, Romantic period. With a diverse List of compositions by Franz Liszt, body of work spanning more than six ...

Anton Rubinstein Anton Grigoryevich Rubinstein (; ) was a Russian pianist, composer and conductor who founded the Saint Petersburg Conservatory. He was the elder brother of Nikolai Rubinstein, who founded the Moscow Conservatory. As a pianist, Rubinstein ran ...

Joseph Hellmesberger Jr. Joseph Heinrich Georg Hellmesberger Jr. (9 April 1855 – 26 April 1907), also known as Pepi Hellmesberger, was an Austrian composer, violinist and Conducting, conductor. Biography Hellmesberger was born in Vienna and was the son of violinis ...

and

Hans von Bülow Freiherr Hans Guido von Bülow (; 8 January 1830 – 12 February 1894) was a German conductor, pianist, and composer of the Romantic era. As one of the most distinguished conductors of the 19th century, his activity was critical for establishi ...

performed there. The palace was ripped down and replaced by a modernistic high-rise building in 1913. After the dissolution of the

Austro-Hungarian Empire Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military and diplomatic alliance, it consist ...

in 1918 and the end of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

in 1945, many

aristocratic Aristocracy (; ) is a form of government that places power in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocrats. Across Europe, the aristocracy exercised immense economic, political, and social influence. In Western Christian co ...

families had to give up their city homes due to rising costs of upkeep. Many of the buildings were either rented or sold for

commercial Commercial may refer to: * (adjective for) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and services ** (adjective for) trade, the trading of something of economic value such as goods, services, information or money * a dose of advertising ...

usage as

office An office is a space where the employees of an organization perform Business administration, administrative Work (human activity), work in order to support and realize the various goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a po ...

s and

museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...

s, or bought by the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

and used by

ministries Ministry may refer to: Government * Ministry (collective executive), the complete body of government ministers under the leadership of a prime minister * Ministry (government department), a department of a government Religion * Christian mi ...

. The ''Herrengasse'' has nevertheless been able to retain most of its original appearance and relative exclusivity. The building's

architectural Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...

style reaches from the

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to the

baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

and

neo-baroque Neo-Baroque may refer to: * Neo-Baroque music * Neo-Baroque painting, a painting style used by Christo Coetzee and others *Baroque Revival architecture * Neo-Baroque film *the Organ reform movement The Organ Reform Movement or ''Orgelbewegung'' ...

periods. A direct subway connection to the U3 line has existed since the 1990s. City palaces (known as ''Palais'') which still exist include: * Palais Herberstein (built in 1897, at Herrengasse 1-3) * Palais Wilczek (former ''Palais Lembruch'', 1737, Herrengasse 5) * Palais Modena (today Federal Ministry of the Interior, 1811, Herrengasse 7) *

Palais Mollard-Clary Palais Mollard-Clary is a Baroque palace in Vienna, Austria. It is located in the first district Innere Stadt, at Herrengasse 9. It was built from 1686 to 1689 for Imperial Count Franz Maximilian von Mollard (1621-1690). In 1760, it was bought by ...

(1689, Herrengasse 9) *

(formerly ''Niederösterreichisches Landeshaus'' states House of Lower Austria 1839–1848, Herrengasse 13) * Palais Ferstel (formerly

Austro-Hungarian Bank The Austro-Hungarian Bank (, , , , , , ) was the central bank of the Habsburg Monarchy in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The institution was founded in 1816 as the privilegirte oesterreichische National-Bank (), and changed its name in 1878 ...

, 1856–1860, Herrengasse 14, entrance also at Freyung 2) * Palais Batthyány (integrates parts of the former ''Palais Orsini-Rosenberg'', 1716, Herrengasse 19) * Palais Trauttmannsdorff (1834–1838, Herrengasse 21) *

Palais Porcia The Palais Porcia is a Baroque architecture, Baroque mansion in Munich, southern Germany, which served as residence for Count Fugger. It is Munich's oldest still existing Baroque-style palace. Building style Enrico Zuccalli built the mansion ...

(1546, Herrengasse 23) Right next to the ''Herrengasse'' is the Freyung square, where more aristocratic residences are located. Other noble palaces in the vicinity can be found at Minoritenplatz square.

References

* Czeike, Felix (1973). ''Wien: Kunst & Kultur.'' Sueddeutscher Verlag, Munich.

External links

{{Authority control Streets in Vienna Architecture in Austria