Burgtheater, Vienna

Burgtheater is Austria’s national theatre, and this grand Ringstraße building is the work of Gottfried Semper and Carl von Hasenauer. Its present form was built from 1874 to 1888, replacing an older theatre beside the Hofburg. The façade makes theatre itself into decoration: Apollo appears above the main section, framed by the Muses of drama and tragedy, while Bacchus and Ariadne fill the friezes over the entrances.

Along the outer walls, portrait busts honour writers including Shakespeare, Molière, Goethe and Grillparzer; theatrical masks and allegorical figures complete the programme. Look at the entrance details while you walk normally along the pavement, and you can read the building as a catalogue of European drama. Inside, Gustav Klimt, his brother Ernst, and Franz Matsch created painted scenes of theatrical history from 1886 to 1888.

The theatre opened here on 14 October 1888. It suffered major destruction in a bombing raid on 12 March 1945 and further fire damage a month later, then was rebuilt from 1953 to 1955. The institution began in 1741, and its company became known in Vienna as “die Burg,” a name that captures its exceptional place in German-language theatre.