
Regierungssitz - Vaduz, Liechtenstein
Posted by:
PetjeOp
N 47° 08.227 E 009° 31.356
32T E 539629 N 5220534
The old government building is featured on the 5 euro coin
Waymark Code: WM17DC5
Location: Liechtenstein
Date Posted: 01/31/2023
Views: 5
"The government building of the Principality of Liechtenstein was built between 1903 and 1905 and has been the seat of government ever since. The building, located in the center of Vaduz, was – with interruptions – the seat of the Landtag of the Principality of Liechtenstein until the opening of the new Landtag building in 2008.
Until 1719, the forerunners of today's Principality of Liechtenstein were the county of Vaduz and the Lordship of Schellenberg. In 1699, Prince Hans Adam I bought the Schellenberg estate and in 1712 the County of Vaduz. The princely house needed a territory directly related to the Reich in order to be admitted to the Imperial Council of Princes. In 1719, under Prince Anton Florian, the two areas were raised to form an Imperial Principality of Liechtenstein. In 1806 Napoleon Bonaparte founded the Confederation of the Rhine and incorporated the imperial principality as a sovereign state. The Principality of Liechtenstein was still an economically worthless area. The reigning princes did not live in Liechtenstein until 1938 and they ruled absolutistly until 1862. Since the reigning prince was not there himself, an Austrian official was entrusted with the government of the principality until 1921. The civil servant was designated as bailiff and as a concession to the revolution from 1848 as governor.
Around the turn of the 19th into the 20th century, Karl von In der Maur was the acting governor resp. head of government. The state authorities and offices were housed in different buildings. They were not very practical and the spatial conditions were cramped. On June 12, 1899, the Liechtenstein Parliament asked the government to take the necessary steps to construct a new Liechtenstein official building. This should also create a representative and dignified meeting place for the government. The provincial governor turned to the then reigning Prince John II, who resided mainly in Vienna, Bohemia and Moravia. The prince commissioned his architect, Gustav Ritter von Neumann, to draw up project plans. There were a number of discussions during the construction phase, particularly with regard to costs. Ultimately, the building cost around 380,000 crowns, which was around 25% more than government revenue in 1905. The construction could only be realized because Prince Johann II provided the building site free of charge and paid 100,000 crowns from his private coffers. The government building was opened during a state parliament session on December 28, 1905."
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