Maria Theresia Memorial
The Maria Theresia Memorial—Maria-Theresien-Denkmal—anchors Vienna’s Ring boulevard memory of the Habsburg world. It commemorates Empress Maria Theresa, who ruled the monarchy from 1740 to 1780, and the monument stands on Maria-Theresien-Platz since 1888 between two institutions that open their doors soon after: the Art History Museum in 1891 and the Natural History Museum in 1889. Its creation responds to a moment of imperial strain. After defeats in the Austro-Prussian War and the Third Italian War of Independence, the empire turned to patriotic display along the newly opened Ring Road, built around the old town after construction began in 1858 and finished in 1865. In 1874, three sculptors—Johannes Benk, Carl Kundmann, and Kaspar von Zumbusch—submitted designs, and Emperor Franz Joseph I selected Zumbusch. Bronze work with his student Anton Brenek took about 13 years, producing sculptures that together weighed 44 tons. …
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