Regierungsgebäude, Vienna, Government building in Innere Stadt, Vienna, Austria

The Regierungsgebäude is a seven-storey government building on the Stubenring, designed by Ludwig Baumann and completed in 1913. Its 200-metre facade has rusticated lower levels, round-arched entrances at the centre and columns between rows of rectangular and round-arched windows. A bronze double eagle with a 16-metre wingspan sits on the roof ridge above the central section, and the Radetzky equestrian statue stands in front of the main entrance.

Ludwig Baumann designed the building, which was completed in 1913 to serve as the War Ministry of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. After the empire collapsed at the end of World War I, the building was repurposed and eventually became home to federal government offices.

The bronze double eagle on the roof ridge, with a wingspan of 16 metres, was added at the request of Archduke Franz Ferdinand; it was so large that an extra storey had to be fitted behind the raised attic. On the rear attic the motto "Si vis pacem para bellum" was once displayed, removed during the restoration after 1945.

The building sits in the heart of Vienna's Innere Stadt and is easy to reach on foot from many central points. Entry is generally not open to the public, but the full exterior, including the entrance facade, can be seen from the street without any restriction.

The building's 1913 radio transmitter was converted for voice transmission in 1923, making it the birthplace of Austrian broadcasting. Its antenna, a mesh of silicon bronze wires under the entire facade, survived undamaged, and from 25 November 1918 to 1 February 1919 it was the only working telegraph transmitter in Austria. From August 1924 to 1926 the RAVAG broadcast its first programmes from here.