Vienna as Fortress City in the 16th Century

Vienna possesses earlier pictorial records in the form of cartographical images and views than many other European cities. Significant records of this type date to the 16th century when the big events of that era, the Turkish siege of 1529 and the following restructuring and modification of the citys fortifications, prompted their creation. The opus of three members of the Milanese family Angielini (two brothers and the son of one of them), who were active cartographers and master builders of fortresses, forms the core of the book. This material has been dealt with only inadequately by researchers up till now. Five atlases of maps and plans stored today in Vienna, Dresden and Karlsruhe include depictions of 50 fortified towns and fortresses on the border with the Ottoman Empire (today including parts of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia, Hungary, Austria, Slovakia, Romania and the Ukraine). This material can be dated to a period between the mid-1560s and the listing of the two Dresden atlases in the oldest inventory of the Dresden Kunstkammer (1587). Three city plans of Vienna (ground plans mixed with perspective images) in three of the five Atlases are of outstanding importance. They are the earliest birds eye views of the recently finished fortifications surrounding the city. The copies in Dresden and Karlsruhe include parts of the suburban settlements. All three plans show the street plan combined with drawings of important buildings including the fortifications. They are subjected to a detailed analysis in the book. Together with the examination of the rich archival documentation (especially in the Kriegsarchiv in Vienna) and the results of archaeological research this leads to new insights into the remodelling of the Habsburg capital into a modern fortress city equipped with a belt of bastions a decisive phase of Viennas older urban development. The massive environmental impact on Viennas surrounding landscape (building materials, wood supply for the production of bricks) is also investigated. Seven appendixes contain analyses of all the maps, plans and views in the atlases (appendixes IIV), a catalogue of Italian master builders of fortresses of the time (Appendix V), a register of fortification treatises of the 15th and 16th centuries (Appendix VI) and a list of city plans and views of Vienna relevant to this study from the 15th to the 18th century (Appendix VII). Technical terms are explained in a glossary. Numerous illustrations assist the better understanding of the study. Overall, the publication offers the most detailed study and presentation so far of the most important and extensive building project in Viennas history before the demolition of the fortifications and subsequent urban growth in the second half of the 19th century.