Graben, Vienna

It is crossed by Wipplinger Straße by means of the Hohe Brücke, a bridge about 10 meters (33 ft) above street level.

According to the historian Karl Oettinger, the Graben replaced the Hoher Markt and Wipplingerstraße as Vienna's main arterial road.

The new route supposedly led from Am Hof over Bognergasse and the Graben to Stock-im-Eisen-Platz, at that point turning in the direction of St. Stephen's Cathedral, then passing over Rotenturmstraße to reach the Wollzeile.

At that time the Graben was lined primarily with wooden houses, which led to a catastrophe on March 23, 1327.

A fire broke out in the Wallnerstraße house of a priest of St. Stephen's, Heinrich von Luzern, and quickly spread over Kohlmarkt to the Graben, destroying the area completely.

It was marked above all by the construction of the Arkadenhof, a striking Renaissance building, which in 1873 was replaced by the present-day Grabenhof.

The Graben became the site of various festivities, including public displays of homage to the ruling house.

This was not limited to the nobility, but included the entrepreneurial class as well, who were most visibly represented by the construction of the Trattnerhof by the printer Thomas von Trattner.

In 1835 the Erste österreichische Spar-Casse had the corner houses on Tuchlauben torn down and erected its headquarters, which stand to this day, in their stead.

Between 1860 and 1866 the houses between Grabengasse and Schlossergassl were removed, with the result that the Graben led directly to Stock-im-Eisen-Platz, and became once more a proper street.

In the course of the construction of the U-Bahn, the Graben was rebuilt in successive phases, and the pedestrian zone was gradually expanded.

Beginning in 1424, butchers are also mentioned in treasury documents, which strictly regulate their opening hours.

According to a decree issued in 1564 by Ferdinand I, the butchers were to be moved on account of their offensive smell, but the law did not meet with full compliance.

The See of Freising owned a plot here on which they built a Hof (court), presumably at the end of the 12th century, although it is first mentioned in 1273.

In 1911 it was replaced by two office buildings, built by Rudolf Krauß and Felix Sauer, which were separated by a narrow alley, which provided for the first time a second passage into the old city.

Its name owes to the fact that the previous building had been purchased by the eponymous insurance firm Der Anker.

The style of the lower story's large glass surfaces was avant-garde in relation to later construction techniques with reinforced concrete.

The palace of the Barons Bartolotti von Partenfeld is the only baroque structure on the Graben that has survived to this day.

Knize, a prominent tailor, occupied the ground floor; its showroom was built by Adolf Loos.

Sonnleithner was the founder of the "Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Wien" (Society of the Friends of Music in Vienna).

The expansion of the Erste österreichische Sparkasse gave rise to numerous changes of headquarters in its early years.

This fountain stood on the northwestern end of the Graben and served primarily to put out fires.

When in 1638 it was decided to establish new fire regulations, new fountains on the Freyung and the Graben were likewise deemed necessary.

It is unclear to what degree the Graben served as an arterial road in the Middle Ages (see above), as the construction of buildings at either end eventually rendered it unsuitable for such a function.

The final project for the establishment of the pedestrian zone was the work of Hermann Stiegholzer, and was inaugurated in 1978.

Stephansplatz Station had already been built as a shell during the original construction of the U-1, rendering its extension under the Graben necessary.

This is unroofed, in an attempt to render it as unobtrusive as possible, as incorporation of the exit into the neighboring buildings was not possible on account of the high compensatory payments that would have been necessary.