Vienna, Austria

City of music, cafes, waltzes, parks, pastries, and wine . . . Vienna is a true cosmopolitan center where different groups and nationalities have for centuries fused their cultural identities to shape what is known as Viennese. The Romans in the 1st century AD selected Vienna (Wein) as a Celtic settlement on the Danube River as one of their most important European forts.

Austria subsequently grew around this city that has changed through the course of time because of war, siege, victory, defeat, the death of an empire, the birth of a republic, and foreign occupation. Vienna's importance began in the Middle Ages when it was made the residence of the Babenbergs and the city walls were raised in 1200. Vienna would subsequently become the capital of the Habsburg Empire and remain so for almost seven centuries. Today its imperial past is still visible in monumental structures such as the Imperial Palace (Hofburg), the Schönbrunn Palace, the buildings along Ringstraße, and many other sites throughout the city.

With the fall of the monarchy, the city was made a province in its own right in 1922. The Social Democrats then in power pursued comprehensive social policies. By 1933 more than 60,000 new and affordable apartments had been built known as the "rotes Wien" (Red Vienna) and found international recognition.

In 1938 Austria was "annexed" to Hitler Germany and ceased to exist as a state. Most of Vienna's Jewish population was driven away or exterminated. After the end of the Second World War and many years of Allied occupation, Austria regained its independence with the state treaty signed in 1955. Unperturbed by the nearby existing Iron Curtain, Vienna continued to build on its international role during the Cold War years and became a UN seat and was chosen as headquarters for the OSCE.


Vienna is composed in 23 districts which all have their own names. The heart and historical city of Vienna, the Innere Stadt (Inner City), was once surrounded by a mighty city wall which was eventually removed in 1857. The new space where the wall once stood is the impressive wide 2-1/2 mile long boulevard known as "Ringstrasse". Everything within the Ringstrasse are tiny cobbled streets leading to majestic squares.

In the center is Stephansplatz with Vienna's most familiar landmark, St. Stephen's Cathedral (Stephansdom). The cathedral is an impressive Gothic edifice of dark stone with a colorful diamond-pattern tiled roof and a north tower rising to 450 feet named Alter Steffl, "Old Steve." Originally built between 1359 and 1433, it was reconstructed after severe war damage. The tower has an elevator or a climb of 343 spiral steps to an observation platform that provides sweeping view of the city and a closeup of the glazed rooftop tiles from the top.

Take the guided tour below ground in the catacombs to see the usual assortment of sarcophagi holding the bones of dead rulers, archbishops, and other personages. Somewhat stranger are the bronze containers where kidneys, livers, etc. of Habsburg emperors were interred in what might be called an undertaker's waste dump. Bones of more than 15,000 Viennese have also been stacked in the catacombs like kindling since the 1700s.

At the broad pedestrian walkway known as the Graben, turn right. In the center is the Plague Column erected by Emperor Leopold I between 1687 and 1693. This baroque structure is dotted with statues of ecstatic saints thanking God for relief from an outbreak of the Black Plague in Vienna in 1679 that claimed as many as 150,000 people.

Continuing on Graben, walk and stroll the shops down Kohlmarkt. At the end of Kohlmarkt, you will reach Michaelerplatz, one of Vienna's most evocative squares where the feel of a medieval city remains very strong with its labyrinth of palaces, museums, and public buildings bordering Augustinestrasse. The vast and impressive Hofburg was once the official residence of the Hadburgs. This complex of imperial edifices is virtually a city within a city. For more than seven centuries, the great Austro-Hungarian Empire of the Habsburgs ruled from this palace. Today, the palace serves as a repository of Austrian culture and history with 22 separate museums, a 14th-century Augustinian church, the Gothic Royal Chapel where the Vienna Boys' Choir performs during High Mass on Sunday, the famous Spanische Hofreitschule (Spanish Riding School), the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek (National Library), as well as the president’s offices. The most popular of the museums are the Imperial Apartments (the former apartments of Emperor Franz Joseph and Empress Elisabeth, which are open to the public), the Sisi Museum and the Imperial Silver Collection.



Crossing over back towards the pedestrian-only Karntnerstrasse, spend some time enjoying the heart of Viennese life with shoppers parading along the shops and merchandise-laden boulevard and among the street performers. There is even a mini-museum of glassmaking that decorates the second floor of the world-famous glassmaker, Lobmeyr (no. 26). For a break, retreat to one of the cafe terrances on or off Karntnerstrasse or duck into the Hotel Astoria (no. 32-34) that preserves the old turn-of-the-20th-century Austro-Hungarian Empire decor. The most famous cafe in Vienna is Cafe Demel that has a long-standing feud with the Hotel Sacher Wien Hotel restaurant that won the right to sell the legendary and original Sachertorte. Sachertorte is a rich chocolate cake with a layer of apricot jam and worth the calories.


At the southernmost loop of Ringstrasse on Karntnerstrasse, you will reach Staatsoper (State Opera House). Built between 1861 and 1865 and reconstructed after sustaining damage in World War II, the Vienna State Opera House is one of the most important venues in the world. The State Opera House was the first building erected on the Ringstrasse when the old city's fortifcations were torn down and replaced with massive public works project. However, when it was built, controversy and cost overruns drew critics that were apparently so upset that one of the architects, Eduard van der Null, killed himself. After World War II, the public was outraged that the city started restoration of the theatre over more pressing needs for public housing. Today, the outside walls, the façade, and the grand staircase are the only portions of the building to survive a direct hit by an Allied bomb during World War II. Though it attempts to capture the grandeur of the original building, an exact reconstruction would have cost too much. Still, the Staatsoper is symbolic of Vienna's emergence as one of the world's cultural capitals. The first performance when it was open on 25 May 1869 was Mozart's Don Giovanni.



If you are indeed a fan of Mozart, Schubert, Beethoven, Strauss, or Haydn, you will be able to hear their music in the concert halls and places where they performed and visit the houses and apartments, now a part of the Historical Museum of Vienna, in which they lived and worked as well as the cemeteries where they were buried. Haydn's Memorial House at Haydngasse 19 and U-Bahn stop Zieglergasse is where Franz Josef Haydn lived from 1797 until his death in 1809. Here, Haydn not only conceived and wrote The Seasons and The Creation at this house, but gave lessons to Beethoven. The Johann-Strauss-Memorial Rooms is at Praterstrasse 54 where the King of the Waltz lived and composed "The Blue Danube Waltz". Figarohaus (The Mozart Memorial) at Domgasse 5 in the Inner City is the 17th century residence of the composer from 1784 to 1787 when he composed his opera The Marriage of Figaro.


No visit to Vienna is complete without a tour of Schönbrunn outside of the Inner City. Schönbrunn Palace with its surrounding buildings and huge park is one of the most significant cultural monuments in Austria. The castle was build to rival French Versailles in Baroque beauty and importance but failed in its attempt due to the lack of funds. It served in earlier times as the summer residence to various Habsburg rulers. Emperor Franz Joseph (ruled 1848-1916), who was born here in 1830, spent the last years of his life entirely in Schönbrunn. In 1918, the palace became the property of the new republic. Due to this historical importance, its beautiful location and its gardens this palace is one of the very top sights in Vienna and the entire complex was added to the UNESCO's world cultural heritage list. Tours of almost 40 rooms of the 1441 room residence are encouraged to get a glimpse and admire the magnificent apartments of Maria Theresia, her sitting rooms, bedroom and the parlour in which 6 year old Mozart played for the Empress, as well as the parlors and apartments of the Imperial couple Franz Joseph and Sisi. The interior is an orgy of frescoed ceilings, crystal chandeliers, huge mirrors and gilded ornaments.

If time permits, another attraction worth a visit beyond the Ringstrasse complex is Sigmund Freud's apartment from 1891 to 1938 at Berggasse 19 (now a museum). The three-room collection of memorabilia at Sigmund Freud Haus is mostly a photographic record of Freud's life with some documents, publications, and a portion of his collection of antiquities also on display.