Ringtheater
The Ringtheater was a famous theater in the first district of Vienna, Schottenring 7. Built between 1872 and 1874 by Heinrich von Forster with the plans of Emil Ritter, the Ringtheater opened on January 17, 1874 using the name “Comic Opera”. Its name, is a counterpart to the Hofoperntheater – a serious theater playing light operas. However, when the theater shifted to German and Italian operas, spoken plays and variety in 1878, the name was changed to “Ringtheater”.
Since the footprint of the theater was small and with only 1,700-people capacity, the architect was forced to build the theater high, but with disastrous consequences. On December 8 of 1881, a fire broke out before a performance by Les contes d’Hoffmann (The Tales of Hoffmann), which destroyed the entire theater and killed 384 people. As a result, a new law concerning safety measures and the interior of theatres was passed a year later the fire incident.
The site after the fire became the “Suhnhaus” (House of Atonement), which consisted of rented properties used for charitable purposes, was made available using the private funds of the Emperor. Unfortunately, the misfortune of the Ringtheater continued when the Suhnhouse was heavily damaged in 1945 and demolished in 1951. Around 1969 and 1974, the site was used to develop an office block, wherein the police in Vienna, the general inspectorate of the federal security guards and the police commandos of today came to know as their headquarters.
