In July 1873, construction of the monumental main building of the University of Vienna on the Ringstrasse began.
In the course of the suppression of the revolution in 1848, the university had lost its former main building, the New Aula in the Stubenviertel, and its institutes had been spread out over the suburbs. Emperor Franz Joseph had already decided to build a new university building in 1854, but it was only after years of searching for a suitable location that Heinrich von Ferstel began planning in 1869. The designs for the “Palace of sciences” were decidedly based on Renaissance models. From the ground plan to the style to the furnishings, the building represents the self-image of a deterministic view of science that promised a “victory of light over darkness” in the end.
It was not until 1884 that the University of Vienna was finally to receive a central roof again with its new building, under which research and teaching could take place.
