Linienwall
The Linienwall was the outer line of the fortifications for the city of
Construction
The construction of the Linienwall was begun by order of
All of the residents of Vienna and its suburbs between the age of 18 and 60 years old were required to work (or provide a replacement worker) on the fortifications, which consisted of a zigzagging, palisade-reinforced, earthen rampart, four metres high by four metres wide, and a three-metre-deep ditch. Construction was completed in only four months. In 1738, the earthworks were reinforced with a layer of bricks.
The fortifications encircled the suburbs from the Danube Canal at Sankt Marx (today Vienna’s 3rd District) to Lichtental (part of the 9th District), a distance of 13.5 km. It thus separated physically the Vorstädte or suburbs (today’s 3rd through 9th districts, incorporated into Vienna in 1850) from the Vororte or outlying places (today’s 10th through 19th districts, incorporated 1892). The most important arterial roads entered the city via drawbridges and gates; each of these locations additionally included a custom house where a toll, the Liniengeld was charged.
On June 11, 1704 the Linienwall helped a group of 2,600 Viennese residents along with 150 students repel an attack by the Kuruc.[1]
Chapels
Between 1740 and 1760, a chapel dedicated to John of Nepomuk was built at each of the 18 city gates. These chapels were intended to provide a place for all travellers to and from the city to pray or hear mass at the city limit. The only remaining chapel still in its original position is the Hundsturmer Kapelle in the Margareten district. There is also an original chapel dedicated to Johannes Nepomuk am Tabor at the border between the 2nd and 20th districts, but it has been moved a few metres from its original position.
One of the chapels was removed during the construction of
Toll zone limit
A foreign army never seriously tested the military utility of the Linienwall, but it did discourage raids by the aforementioned Kuruc. It did, however, help to protect the revolting citizens of Vienna during the Revolutions of 1848 from imperial forces.
From 1829 on, the walls (specifically the gates leading into the city) primarily served as a location to charge a
Removal
By the mid-19th century, long after the Linienwall had become militarily obsolete, Vienna was growing at a rapid rate. As railway and road construction kept pace with this growth, eventually the space occupied by the fortifications was replaced with transportation facilities. For example, in 1846 the terminus for the
In 1874, the unincorporated parts of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th districts that lay outside of the wall were incorporated as a new 10th district, Favoriten. On 18 December 1890 the decision was made to incorporate the remaining outlying suburbs from 1 January 1892.[3] This decision rendered the fortifications as a duty control limit obsolete. The remainders of the Linienwall were removed in March 1894, leaving behind a very wide belt around the city. Starting in 1895 this area was filled with a second ring road as well as the viaduct for the Vienna Metropolitan Railway, which is how the area remains today.
Remnants
Besides the Hundsturmer Chapel, there are only a few sections of the Linienwall left which can be seen in the following locations:
- In the 3rd district along the tracks for the Vienna S-Bahn between Rennweg and Südbahnhof stations.
- In the area of a former cattle market in the Sankt Marx area of the 3rd District.
- In the yard of Weyringergasse 13 in the 4th District.
References
- ^ Walter Blasi, Franz Sauer: Die Kuruzzenschanze zwischen Petronell und Neusiedl am See. In: Bundesdenkmalamt (publ.): Fundberichte aus Österreich - Materialhefte. Reihe A, Sonderheft 19 (FÖMat A/Sonderheft 19), Berger & Söhne, Vienna, 2012. ISSN 1993-1271 (false ISSN-number, correct ISSN 1993-1255). p. 27.
- ISBN 3-205-98224-X, S. 253 (Schriften des Instituts für Kunstgeschichte. Akademie der Bildenden Künste Wien. 2, 1).
- ^ Wien seit 60 Jahren. Zur Erinnerung an die Feier der 60jährigen Regierung Seiner Majestät des Kaisers Franz Josef I. der Jugend Wiens gewidmet von dem Gemeinderate ihrer Heimatstadt. Gerlach & Wiedling, Vienna, 1908, p. 27.
Literature
- Ingrid Mader, Der Wiener Linienwall aus historischer, topographischer und archäologischer Sicht, in: Fundort Wien 14, 2011 (2011) 144-163.
- Ingrid Mader, Ingeborg Gaisbauer, Werner Chmelar: Der Wiener Linienwall. Vom Schutzbau zur Steuergrenze. Wien Archäologisch 9. Stadtarchäologie Wien, Vienna, 2012, ISBN 978-3-85161-064-2
External links
- Wiener Zeitung – Der Vorläufer des Gürtels (version from the Internet Archive, as the original is no longer available)
- Wieden Provincial Museum – the Linienwall auf der Wieden
- Course of the Linienwall around Vienna, ca. 1850 (version from the Internet Archive, as the original is no longer available)