Vienna - Josefsplatz

The memorial in the middle of the Josefsplatz square shows Maria Theresa's son, Joseph II; it is by A. Zauner and dates from 1795 to 1806. The reformer, clad in the garb of a Roman emperor, is shown blessing his people. The reliefs on the memorial celebrate Joseph's services to Austrian commerce and recall the many journeys he made abroad in order to benefit his people. The memorial became the spot where Viennese people loyal to the Imperial principle gathered in 1848 while the Revolution was in progress. It was their homage to an Emperor who had died half a century earlier.

The Palais Pallavicini (Josefsplatz No. 5) in Vienna, now a club and conference center, is a noble Classical building with a magnificent portal supported on caryatides and figures on the metopes dating from 1786 by F. A. Zauner. The Palais itself was built by Ferdinand von Hoheneberg in 1783-84.

With its interior modernized and adapted the former Palais Pálffy in Vienna is now available, under the title "Österreich-Haus", for cultural events. The Emperors' Austrian Chancellery stood on this site c. 1500. It was converted into a nobleman's palace at the end of the 16th C. The buildings were damaged by fire in the 18th C. and partially restored. Mozart produced his "Marriage of Figaro" for the first time before an audience of his friends in the room now called the "Figarosaal".