Le Cortège Historique de Vienne

Title

Le Cortège Historique de Vienne

Description

Beautiful book binding in cardboard with splendour-fully gold bordure. Description of Vienna on 11 pages plus 43 copper plates and many wood cut illustrations.

dated 1879

Artist

Quantin

Historical Description

The roots of the city are pre-Roman, the center of the early medieval Vienna was the Berghof, a farm for viticulture. The first documented mention in the Middle Ages was in 881 in the Salzburg Annals. In 976, under the Babenbergs, the Margraviate of Eastern Arrichi (Marcha orientalis) was established, on whose territory, on the border with Hungary, Vienna was also located. Already in the 11th century Vienna was an important trading center, in 1155 Heinrich Jasomirgott made Vienna his capital. Only a year later, Austria was elevated to a dukedom by the Privilegium Minus, and Vienna thus became the residence of the duke. In 976, under the Babenbergs, the Margraviate of Ostarrichi (Marcha orientalis) was established, on whose territory, on the border with Hungary, Vienna was also located. Already in the 11th century Vienna was an important trading center, in 1155 Heinrich Jasomirgott made Vienna his capital. Only a year later, Austria was elevated to a duchy by the Privilegium Minus, and Vienna thus became the residence of the duke. After the end of the Third Crusade, a mint was established and the first major expansion of the city was financed. In 1221, Vienna became the second city in the Duchy of Austria, after Enns (1212), to be granted city and staple rights. This meant that merchants passing through Vienna had to offer their goods for sale in the city. This enabled the Viennese to engage in intermediary trade, so that Vienna soon maintained far-reaching trade relations, especially along the Danube and to Venice, and was considered one of the most important cities in the territory of the Empire. In 1529, Vienna was besieged by the Turks for the first time without success. For almost two hundred years, the border between the Habsburg and Ottoman parts of Hungary ran only about 150 kilometers east of the city, which quite limited its development. At least, Vienna now received modern fortifications. These fortifications, which constituted the main part of the building activity until the 17th century, were to prove their worth in 1683 during the Second Turkish Siege, as they protected the city for two months until the Turkish army had to end the siege of Vienna due to the arrival of the relief army led by the Polish King Jan Sobieski. This was the beginning of the final push back of the Ottoman Empire from Central Europe. As a result, construction activity was brisk and the city flourished. In the course of reconstruction, Vienna was largely baroqueized (Vienna gloriosa). Numerous aristocratic palaces were built; this is primarily associated with the names of the architects Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach and Johann Lukas von Hildebrandt. However, there was also a lot of building activity outside the city walls. Since 1704, the suburbs had their own generously designed fortification system, the Linienwall, roughly along the course of today's Gürtelstraße.