Thesis

            In the seventeenth century absolutism prevailed and a counter-reformation over the commercial and protestant proletariat occurred.  As a result, government officials and aristocracy acquired lots of inner city property, erecting baroque palaces and blocks of ornamented flats and sending the tradesmen, artisans and commoners fleeing to the suburbs.  According to Donald J. Olsen, this century, between 1750 and 1850 was when the social distance between the city and suburbs was at its zenith.  The construction of the Ringstrasse in the 1850’s offered the city of Vienna an opportunity to reconcile its social differences.  But instead of capitalizing on this window, the Viennese authorities used the Ringstrasse and its middling position as a barrier between the city aristocracy and suburban proletariat. The architecture and culture of the Ringstrasse evidences this idea.

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