Austrian Parliament Building, Vienna

The Austrian Parliament Building (Parlamentsgebäude) stands on the Ringstrasse in Vienna, between the Burgtheater and the Museum Quarter. It was designed by the Danish architect Theophil Hansen and built between 1874 and 1883 for the Imperial Council, the parliament of the Austrian half of Austria-Hungary. Since 1918 it has been home to the parliament of the Republic of Austria, today the National Council and the Federal Council.

Hansen chose the style of ancient Greece, the birthplace of democracy: the central portico looks like a temple, and dozens of statues, reliefs and columns decorate the façade. In front of the ramp stands the Pallas Athene Fountain by Carl Kundmann, completed in 1902, with the goddess of wisdom above allegories of the empire’s great rivers.

After a thorough renovation from 2017 to 2022, the building reopened in January 2023. The plenary chamber of the National Council now sits under a glass roof, and beneath the colonnaded hall the free visitor centre “Demokratikum” explains how parliament works with interactive exhibits; it is open Monday to Saturday and until 21:00 on Thursdays.

Guided tours of about an hour in German or English are free, but you need to book a time online on the parliament’s website (www.parlament.gv.at) and bring a photo ID. When parliament is sitting, you can also follow the debates from the public gallery.

The building faces the Volksgarten and the Hofburg across the Ring, a short walk from the City Hall and the MuseumsQuartier. The nearest U-Bahn stations are Volkstheater (U2, U3) and Rathaus (U2), and trams 1, 2, 71 and D stop at Parlament.