On the plaza, there are two equestrian statues designed by Anton Dominik Fernkorn with socles by Eduard van der Nüll. The statue of Archduke Charles of Austria, modelled on a popular painting by Johann Peter Krafft, was inaugurated already in 1860. It was meant to glorify the Habsburg dynasty as great Austrian military leaders and underline the leadership of Austria within the German Confederation, though they just had suffered a crushing defeat at the bloody Battle of Solferino. The second statue of Prince Eugene of Savoy was inaugurated in 1865, one year before the Austrian defeat in the Battle of Königgrätz.