The Vienna Ring Road (Ringstraße) circles the city’s first district and is home to some of the most grandiose buildings Austria’s capital has to offer: the State Opera House, Parliament, Votive Church, Österreichische Postsparkasse, City Hall and more can all be seen. The buildings were built in an eclectic historicist style, using elements of Classical, Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque architecture.

Vienna's Ring Road is 5.3 km long. The road is located on sites where medieval city fortifications once stood, including high walls and the broad open field ramparts, crisscrossed by paths that lay before them. It's home to numerous monumental buildings, built during the period of Historicism in the 1860s to 1890s. In 1857, Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria issued a decree ordering the demolition of the city walls and moats. In his decree, he laid out the exact size of the boulevard, as well as the geographical positions and functions of the new buildings. The Ring Road and the planned buildings were intended to be a showcase for the grandeur and glory of the Habsburg Empire. 

Today, by taking a stroll along the Ring Road or boarding a tram you can see the buildings that are among the most important sights in Vienna.

UNESCO designates the Ring Road as part of Vienna's World Heritage Site.