Graben

The Graben (english: Trench) is one of the most important streets of the Vienna Old Town and it is part of the “GoldenU” of Vienna’s shopping streets. Here we see the souther side between Kohlmarkt (right) and Spiegelgasse (left) which is more than 2/3 of the complete Graben. As early as in roman Vindobona there was a wall of the Castell lying along this axis. the same line was used for the wall of the medieval Castle and since there was a deep trench anlong the wall this name has prevailed for the street until today.

Basically all the buildings along the Graben are heritage listed. Here we see from left to right at first the Anker-Haus by Otto Wagner, which was used as an atelier by Friedensreich Hundertwasser. The next street block starts with the Palais Bartolotti-Partenfeld (the only existing baroque building along the Graben), then a historicism building by Ludwig Richter and the Generali-Hof built in 1795. The next block is occupied by the Grabenhof by Otto Thienemann and Otto Wagner (1874). In the last block we see a historicism building with art nouveau elements by Pietro Palumbo, then the Ellerbachsche Haus by Gotthilf Ernst (1904) and finally the Husaren-Haus (also named “Zum Großen Bethen”) by Josef Hackhofer (1896) crowned with a statue of Johann Sobieski on a horse.

This streetscape of the austrian capital Vienna was presented in week 32 of our 101 weeks 101 cities of europe project.

This panorama of the Graben in Vienna was chosen as an example for our step-by-step video as a making of for our Streetlines.