University of Vienna campus tour: the Ringstrasse and the Campus

Founded in 1365 by Duke Rudolf IV, the University of Vienna is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and one of the largest in Europe. It has no single enclosed campus. Its showpiece stands on the Ringstrasse among Vienna's grandest public buildings, and dozens of other sites are scattered through the neighbouring districts. This guide covers the places that matter most to a future student and explains how university life fits into the city.

Where the university is

Most of what you will want to see lies within a fifteen-minute walk on the north-western edge of the old town.

The Main Building on the Ringstrasse, with the central library and the ceremonial halls.
The Campus, a few minutes north-west, in the courtyards of the former General Hospital.
The Juridicum, the law faculty, just inside the old town.
Newer faculty buildings further afield, such as the mathematics and economics building on the Danube Canal.

Keep in mind that Vienna has several separate universities. The Medical University, the University of Technology and the University of Economics and Business are independent institutions with their own sites.

The Main Building on the Ringstrasse

When Vienna's city walls came down in the 19th century, the Ringstrasse was laid out in their place and lined with monumental buildings: the Opera, the Parliament, the City Hall, the Burgtheater and, since 1884, the university. The architect Heinrich von Ferstel designed the Main Building in the style of the Italian Renaissance, as a palace of learning with a domed central block, long wings and two grand staircases.

Inside, the staircases lead to the Great Ceremonial Hall, where degrees are conferred. The hall is known for a commission that went wrong: Gustav Klimt painted three large ceiling pictures for it around 1900, they caused a scandal and were never installed, and the originals were lost in 1945.

The Arcaded Courtyard

The centre of the building is the Arkadenhof, a large courtyard modelled on those of Italian palaces. Students cross it between lectures and sit on the lawn in good weather. Under the arcades is a long gallery of busts and plaques honouring scholars who taught here, among them Sigmund Freud, the physicists Ludwig Boltzmann and Erwin Schrödinger, and many others. For a long time the honoured were almost all men; monuments to women scholars have been added in recent years.

The University Library

The University Library's main reading room, on the upper floor of the Main Building, dates from the building's opening: long wooden desks with green-shaded lamps, tiers of book galleries and a glass ceiling. It is a working library and silence is expected, but it gives the best sense of the university's age and scale.

The Campus in the old General Hospital

Vienna's General Hospital was founded by Emperor Joseph II in 1784, and its original site, a sequence of large, tree-filled courtyards, was handed over to the university in the late 20th century. Since 1998 it has been known simply as the Campus. Many humanities and cultural studies institutes are here, together with bookshops, cafés, playgrounds and restaurants with large gardens, so it works as a neighbourhood park as much as a place of study.

In one of the far courtyards stands the Narrenturm, the Fool's Tower, a round, fortress-like building also from 1784. It was one of the first buildings in Europe designed specifically to house psychiatric patients, and it now holds a museum collection of pathological anatomy.

The Votive Church, the Juridicum and the Botanical Garden

Beside the Main Building, the twin spires of the Votive Church rise above a park named after Sigmund Freud. The neo-Gothic church was also designed by Ferstel and was built in thanks for Emperor Franz Joseph's survival of an assassination attempt in 1853.

A short walk into the old town, the Juridicum is the university's most striking modern building, a glass block from the 1980s by the architect Ernst Hiesmayr.

The university's Botanical Garden, founded in the 18th century, lies on the other side of the centre, next to the Belvedere palace, and is a pleasant detour for anyone visiting the palace gardens.

How student life works

There are no university-owned colleges or residence halls in the Anglo-American sense. Students live in shared flats or in student residences run by non-profit organisations, spread across the city. The districts closest to the university, Alsergrund and Josefstadt, are full of students, inexpensive lunch places and bookshops.

Vienna's coffeehouses are part of the routine. Sitting for hours over a single coffee with a book or a laptop is an accepted tradition, and several historic cafés are within a few steps of the Main Building.

Bachelor's programmes are mostly taught in German, and many master's programmes are taught in English.

Visiting as a prospective student

The Arcaded Courtyard and the Campus are generally open to walk through during the day. The university has also offered guided tours of the Main Building and information events for prospective students. Schedules, languages and booking arrangements change, so check the University of Vienna's official visitor and student information pages before you go.

Getting there and around

By air: Vienna Airport is linked to the city by frequent trains; the journey to the centre takes roughly 15 to 30 minutes depending on the service.
By train: international trains arrive at Vienna's main station, a few underground stops from the centre.
In town: the Main Building stands at Schottentor, a major underground and tram stop on the Ring. The Campus is one or two tram stops further, or a ten-minute walk.

Where families usually stay

The old town (Innere Stadt): central and walkable to the Main Building.
Josefstadt and Alsergrund: quieter residential districts right behind the university.
Neubau and the Museum Quarter: lively, with easy tram links.

For more detail, see our guide to where to stay in Vienna.

Practical tips

Visit on a weekday in term time, when the courtyard and the Campus are busiest.
Combine the university with a walk along the Ringstrasse; the City Hall and the Burgtheater are next door.
Comparing universities in central Europe? See our campus tours of LMU Munich, Charles University in Prague and the University of Zurich.

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Cover photo: C.Stadler/Bwag, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons