Theme Week Vienna – Historic Centre

8 March 2017 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Architecture, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  7 minutes

Neue Hofburg © Bwag/cc-by-sa-3.0-at

Neue Hofburg © Bwag/cc-by-sa-3.0-at

In 2001, Vienna‘s city centre was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Vienna developed from early Celtic and Roman settlements into a Medieval and Baroque city, the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It played an essential role as a leading European music centre, from the great age of Viennese Classicism through the early part of the 20th century. The historic centre of Vienna is rich in architectural ensembles, including Baroque castles and gardens, as well as the late-19th-century Ringstrasse lined with grand buildings, monuments and parks.

The urban and architectural qualities of the Historic Centre of Vienna bear outstanding witness to a continuing interchange of values throughout the second millennium. Three key periods of European cultural and political development – the Middle Ages, the Baroque period, and the Gründerzeit – are exceptionally well illustrated by the urban and architectural heritage of the Historic Centre of Vienna. Since the 16th century Vienna has been universally acknowledged to be the musical capital of Europe.   read more…

Theme Week Vienna – A city with a high quality of life

28 August 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Architecture, Bon voyage, Theme Weeks, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  8 minutes

Donau UNOcity © Omnidoom 999

Donau UNOcity © Omnidoom 999

Vienna is the capital of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria’s primary city, with a population of about 1.7 million (2.3 million within the metropolitan area, more than 25% of Austria’s population), and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre. It is the 10th largest city by population in the European Union. Vienna is host to many major international organizations such as the United Nations and OPEC.   read more…

Theme Week Vienna – Donau City

15 November 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  8 minutes

DC Tower in 2013 © Rftblr/cc-by-sa-3.0

DC Tower in 2013 © Rftblr/cc-by-sa-3.0

Donau City, or Vienna DC, is a new part of Vienna‘s 22nd District Donaustadt, next to both the Reichsbrücke and the left bank of the Danube‘s 21.1 km new channel, Neue Donau. Construction work for the first building on this site, the Andromeda Tower, started in 1996. Although the Danube river has been inextricably connected with Vienna, for centuries, it had played only a subordinate role in the city of Vienna. Unlike in many other cities, the Danube River, because of the numerous floods it regularly caused, was omitted from the urban area. Buildings grew up in Vienna on both sides of the Danube – but not up to the Danube. Only after extensive flood-control engineering and the creation of the New Danube relief channel, with Danube Island, in the 1970s, was the surrounding cityscape of the Danube of interest to builders.   read more…

Theme Week Vienna – The Vienna State Opera

12 December 2012 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Opera Houses, Theaters, Libraries Reading Time:  5 minutes

Vienna State Opera around 1900 © Library of Congress

Vienna State Opera around 1900 © Library of Congress

The Vienna State Opera (Wiener Staatsoper) is an opera house – and opera company – with a history dating back to the mid-19th century. It is located in the centre of Vienna. It was originally called the Vienna Court Opera (Wiener Hofoper). In 1920, with the replacement of the Habsburg Monarchy by the First Republic of Austria, it was renamed the Vienna State Opera. The members of the Vienna Philharmonic are recruited from its orchestra.   read more…

Theme Week Vienna – Schönbrunn Palace

27 December 2011 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  8 minutes

© Manfred Werner

© Manfred Werner

Schönbrunn Palace is a former imperial 1,400-room Rococo summer residence in Vienna, Austria. One of the most important cultural monuments in the country, since the 1960s it has been one of the major tourist attractions in Vienna. The palace and gardens illustrate the tastes, interests, and aspirations of successive Habsburg monarchs. The sculpted garden space between the palace and the Sun Fountain is called the Great Parterre. The French garden, a big part of the area, was planned by Jean Trehet in 1695. It contains, among other things, a maze. The complex however includes many more attractions: Besides the Tiergarten, an orangerie erected around 1755, staple luxuries of European palaces of its type, a palm house (replacing, by 1882, around ten earlier and smaller glass houses in the western part of the park) is noteworthy. Western parts were turned into English garden style in 1828–1852. At the outmost western edge, a botanical garden going back to an earlier arboretum was re-arranged in 1828, when the Old Palm House was built. A modern enclosure for Orangutans, was restored besides a restaurant and office rooms in 2009.   read more…

Theme Week Vienna – The Hotel Imperial

24 August 2011 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Hotels Reading Time:  6 minutes

Hotel Imperial 1880 - Zeffiro Ciuffoletti: Das Reich der Habsburger 1848-1918 - Photographien aus der österreichisch-ungarischen Monarchie

Hotel Imperial 1880 – Zeffiro Ciuffoletti: Das Reich der Habsburger 1848-1918 – Photographien aus der österreichisch-ungarischen Monarchie

The Hotel Imperial, also known as Imperial, Wien or simply The Imperial, is a five-star luxury hotel in Vienna, Austria. It is located at Kärntner Ring on the Ringstraße.   read more…

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