Ringturm (Ring Tower) is a prominent skyscraper in

Vienna, Austria 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. ...

, and is the headquarters of the

Vienna Insurance Group Vienna Insurance Group AG Wiener Versicherung Gruppe (VIG) with its registered office in Vienna, Austria, is one of the largest international insurance groups in Central and Eastern Europe with approximately 25,000 employees. History The hist ...

. It was built from 1953 to 1955 after a design by Erich Boltenstern at the

Schottenring The Schottenring was a motorsport race track situated near Schotten in the Vogelsbergkreis of Hesse, between Fulda and Gießen. After Nürburgring, Schleizer Dreieck, Solituderennen and AVUS, it was one of Germany's oldest race tracks, inaugurate ...

. The tower is tall, with of office space, and is the second highest building within the Vienna

Ringstraße The Ringstrasse or Ringstraße (pronounced Help:IPA/Standard German, �ɪŋˌʃtʁaːsə:File:De-Ringstraße.ogg, ⓘ, lit. ''ring road'') is a 5.3 km (3.3 mi) circular grand boulevard that serves as a ring road around the historic city centre, ...

, after the

Stephansdom St. Stephen's Cathedral ( ) is a Roman Catholic church in Vienna, Austria, and the mother church of the Archdiocese of Vienna. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Vienna, Christoph Schönborn. The current Romanesque and Gothic form of the ca ...

. It is a venue for architecture exhibitions, and is known for being turned into a piece of art annually, wrapped in cloth designed by notable artists including Robert Hammerstiel,

Xenia Hausner Xenia Hausner (born 1951 in Vienna) is an Austrian painter and stage designer. Life Hausner was born into a family of artists. Her father was the Austrian painter Rudolf Hausner. From 1972 to 1976, she studied stage design at the Academy ...

Arnulf Rainer Arnulf Rainer (born 8 December 1929) is an Austrian painter noted for his abstract informal art. Rainer was born in Baden, Austria. During his early years, Rainer was influenced by Surrealism. In 1950, he founded the ''Hundsgruppe'' (''dog gr ...

and

Mihael Milunović Mihael Milunović (born July 2, 1967) is a Serbian and French painter. His work encompasses a wide range of artistic disciplines, from painting, drawing and photography through large-scale sculptures, installations, to sound, video and objec ...

History

The Ringturm tower was built from 1953 to 1955 after a design by at the

, part of the Vienna

. The tower of was an innovative project when Vienna was reconstructed after World War II. The building was erected on a property that held the only building of the Schottenring demolished in the war. At 23 floors, it is the second highest building within the Vienna Ringstraße, after the

. The building has of office space, and is the headquarters of the

. It also houses offices of the '. The facade and some other parts were reconstructed in 1996.

Name

The name was found by a competition. It was chosen from 6,502 suggestions, including City-Haus, Gutwill-Haus, Haus der Gegenseitigkeit, Hoch-Eck, Neues Hochhaus and Sonnblick-Haus.

Weather beacon

On top of the tower is a

weather beacon A weather beacon is a beacon that indicates the local weather forecast in a code of colored or flashing lights. Often, a short poem or jingle accompanies the code to make it easier to remember. The beacon is usually on the roof of a tall build ...

(''Wetterleuchtturm'') in height. Its 117 lamps (39 white, red and green) indicate weather predictions for the following day by partly blinking and moving combinations. It is connected to the ZAMG ( Zentralanstalt für Meteorologie und Geodynamik), the centre for weather forecast on the Hohe Warte. The top has two

aircraft warning lights Aviation obstruction lighting is used to enhance the visibility of structures or fixed obstacles which may conflict with the safe navigation of aircraft. Obstruction lighting is commonly installed on towers, buildings, and even fences located in ...

. ;Beacon indicators * red lights increasing in luminosity = rising temperature * red lights decreasing in luminosity = falling temperature * green lights increasing in luminosity = improving weather * green lights decreasing in luminosity = worsening weather * green lights with uniform luminosity = steady weather * red lights blinking = storm warning * white lights blinking = snow or black ice

Exhibition and events

Beginning in 1998, architectural exhibitions have been displayed in the entrance hall free of charge. A series ''Architektur im Ringturm'' is focused on architecture of Austria, Central Europe and Eastern Europe. Regular television series of the ORF have been produced in the building, including ' with Helmut Zilk and '.

''Ringturmverhüllung''

Since 2006, the Ringturm has been transformed into a piece of art each summer by being wrapped in cloth designed by prominent artists from Austria and Eastern Europe. The cloth consists of 30 pieces, each wide and long. The projects have included: * 2006: ''Don Giovanni'' by (on the occasion of a Mozart year) * 2007: ''Turm des Lebens'' by Robert Hammerstiel * 2008: ''Turm in Blüte'' by Hubert Schmalix * 2011: ''Familiensinn'' by

* 2012: '' Gesellschaft'' by from Hungary * 2013: ''Verbundenheit'' by Dorota Sadovská from Serbia * 2014: ''Schleier der Agnes'' by

, 16 June to 17 September, for the first time with an exhibition * 2015: ''Sommerfreuden'' by Tanja Deman from Croatia * 2016: ''Sorgenfrei'' by Ivan Exner from the Czech Republic * 2017: ''Weitblick'' (''Vision'') by

from Serbia * 2018: ''I Saw This'' by

Gottfried Helnwein Gottfried Helnwein (born 8 October 1948) is an Austrian-Irish visual artist. He has worked as a painter, draftsman, photographer, muralist, sculptor, installation and performance artist, using a wide variety of techniques and media. His work is ...

* 2019: ''Zukunftsträume'' by

Daniela Kostova Daniela Kostova (born 1974) is a contemporary Bulgarian visual artist known for her photography and video based installations. Life and career Daniela Kostova was born in Sofia, Bulgaria and received her M.F.A. from the Rensselear Polytechnic ...

from Bulgaria''Kinderastronaut verhüllt Ringturm''
ORF 10 May 2019, retrieved 10 May 2019. (in German) * 2020: no wrapping due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. * 2022: ''With One Other'' by

Dóra Maurer Dóra Maurer (born 1937) is a Hungarian visual artist whose work has spanned a 50-year career. She works in almost every medium, from film and photography, to painting, performance, and sculpture. Principally achieving recognition in the 1970s w ...

Wien Schottenring (2516031150).jpg, 2008 Wien 01 Ringturm 2013 a.jpg, 2013 Wien 01 Ringturm 2014 b.jpg, 2014 Wien 01 Ringturm 2015 a.jpg, 2015 Wien 01 Ringturm 2016 a.jpg, 2016 Wien 01 Ringturm 2017 a.jpg, 2017 Wien 01 Ringturm 2018 a.jpg, 2018 Wien 01 Ringturm 2019 a.jpg, 2019

References

External links

Foto: Ringturm in Bau
(image from during construction), Vienna, 2005 * Daniela Hahn
Wiener Hochhausarchitektur
Universität Wien 2011

Vienna Insurance Group {{authority control Buildings and structures completed in the 1950s Buildings and structures in Innere Stadt Skyscrapers in Vienna