Grand Hotel Wien

1 April 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, House of the Month, Hotels Reading Time:  6 minutes

© Bwag/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Bwag/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Grand Hotel Wien is a five-star luxury hotel in Vienna, Austria. It is located on the Ringstraße at Kärntner Ring 9. The hotel has a long history and tradition. The architect was Carl Tietz, and it was opened as the first Viennese luxury hotel in 1870. It originally had over 300 rooms, 200 bathrooms, a steam-powered elevator, and a telegraph office.   read more…

Seestadt Aspern in Vienna

16 June 2021 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Living, Working, Building Reading Time:  8 minutes

© Andreas Faessler/cc-by-sa-4.0

© Andreas Faessler/cc-by-sa-4.0

The Seestadt Aspern (officially also Aspern Seestadt, project name: aspern – Vienna’s Urban Lakeside) is a district under construction in the 22nd district of Vienna, Donaustadt, and one of the largest current urban development projects in Europe. Over a period of around 20 years, a new district is to be built in which over 20,000 people will live and work. The Seestadt is being built in several construction stages, starting with the “Pionierquartier” in the south of the man-made lake in the center of the Seestadt.   read more…

Vienna City Prayer House

14 April 2021 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  10 minutes

© Bic/cc-by-sa-4.0

© Bic/cc-by-sa-4.0

The Stadttempel (English: City Prayer House), also called the Seitenstettengasse Temple, is the main synagogue of Vienna, Austria. It is located in the Innere Stadt 1st district, at Seitenstettengasse 4. The synagogue was constructed from 1824 to 1826. The luxurious Stadttempel was fitted into a block of houses and hidden from plain view of the street, because of an edict issued by Emperor Joseph II that only Roman Catholic places of worship were allowed to be built with facades fronting directly on to public streets. This edict saved the synagogue from total destruction during the Kristallnacht in November 1938, since the synagogue could not be destroyed without setting on fire the buildings to which it was attached. The Stadttempel was the only synagogue in the city to survive World War II, as German paramilitary troops with the help of local authorities destroyed all of the other 93 synagogues and Jewish prayer-houses in Vienna. The Jewish community in Vienna today has about 7,000 members and thus represents the largest part of the Jews living in Austria. The Jewish Museum Vienna offers guided tours of the city temple.   read more…

Portrait: Ludwig van Beethoven, one of the most important composers and pianists

22 July 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: Portrait Reading Time:  9 minutes

Ludwig van Beethoven by Joseph Karl Stieler

Ludwig van Beethoven by Joseph Karl Stieler

Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist; his music is amongst the most performed of the classical music repertoire, and he is one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music. His works span the transition from the classical period to the romantic era in classical music.   read more…

Naschmarkt in Vienna

12 June 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

© Schlamniel

© Schlamniel

The Naschmarkt is Vienna‘s most popular market. Located at the Wienzeile over the Wien River, it is about 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) long. The Naschmarkt has existed since the 16th century when mainly milk bottles were sold (as milk bottles were made out of ash (wood from an ash tree), “Asch” (German for “ash”) led to the name “Aschenmarkt”).   read more…

Portrait: Musician and composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

27 May 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: Portrait Reading Time:  11 minutes

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart by Johann Nepomuk della Croce

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart by Johann Nepomuk della Croce

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, baptised as Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Born in Salzburg, Mozart showed prodigious ability from his earliest childhood. Already competent on keyboard and violin, he composed from the age of five and performed before European royalty. At 17, Mozart was engaged as a musician at the Salzburg court but grew restless and travelled in search of a better position. While visiting Vienna in 1781, he was dismissed from his Salzburg position. He chose to stay in the capital, where he achieved fame but little financial security. During his final years in Vienna, he composed many of his best-known symphonies, concertos, and operas, and portions of the Requiem, which was largely unfinished at the time of his early death at the age of 35. The circumstances of his death have been much mythologized.   read more…

Viennese Coffee House Culture

13 April 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  8 minutes

Café Museum © Fotostudio Schuster/cc-by-sa-3.0

Café Museum © Fotostudio Schuster/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Viennese coffee house is a typical institution of Vienna that played an important part in shaping Viennese culture. Since October 2011 the “Viennese Coffee House Culture” is listed as “Intangible Cultural Heritage” in the Austrian inventory of the “National Agency for the Intangible Cultural Heritage”, a part of UNESCO. The Viennese coffee house is described in this inventory as a place, “where time and space are consumed, but only the coffee is found on the bill.”   read more…

Portrait: Johannes Brahms, composer, pianist, and conductor of the Romantic period

25 March 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: Hamburg, Portrait Reading Time:  6 minutes

Johannes Brahms in 1889 - New York Public Library - C. Brasch

Johannes Brahms in 1889 – New York Public Library – C. Brasch

Johannes Brahms was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna. His reputation and status as a composer are such that he is sometimes grouped with Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven as one of the “Three Bs” of music, a comment originally made by the nineteenth-century conductor Hans von Bülow.   read more…

Hotel Sacher in Vienna

17 February 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Hotels Reading Time:  7 minutes

© Thomas Ledl/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Thomas Ledl/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Hotel Sacher is a five-star hotel located in the Innere Stadt first district of Vienna, Austria, facing the Vienna State Opera. It is famous for the specialty of the house, the Sachertorte, a chocolate cake with apricot filling. There is also an art gallery in the hotel with works from the 19th century. The hotel is built near the former residence of Antonio Vivaldi. Hotel Sacher is a member of The Leading Hotels of the World.   read more…

Return to TopReturn to Top