Vienna is the federal capital and largest city of Austria. It lies on the River Danube at the foot of the Vienna Woods.
The history of Vienna goes back to the Celts who settled the site on the Danube River.
In 15 BC the Romans started a military camp on the site called Vindobona to guard the empire against Germanic tribes to the north. The Romans stayed until the 5th century.
By 1437, Vienna had grown to become the de facto capital of the Holy Roman Empire and a cultural centre for arts and science, music and fine cuisine.
In 1529 Suleiman the Magnificent's Ottoman Turks, who had swept through Eastern Europe, had a border only 150 kilometers (93 miles) east of Vienna and were besieging the city. At the start of the siege Suleiman, was so sure of his victory that he boasted that he would be having breakfast in Vienna cathedral within 14 days. 14 days later, the Austrians sent him a letter, telling him his breakfast was getting cold.
The Siege of Vienna ended on October 15, 1529 as the Austrians repelled the Turks, turning the tide against almost a century of unchecked conquest throughout eastern and central Europe by the Ottoman Empire.
The failure of the siege marked the beginning of 150 years of bitter military tension and reciprocal attacks.. The Christian counter-offensive began in 1683 when a 70,000 strong Christian Polish and German army defeated a vast Turkish army at the gates of Vienna in 1683, thus warding off a threat to Christendom in central Europe.
Vienna's old city walls were replaced by a wide street, the Ringstraße between the 1860s to 1890s,. The circular grand boulevard serves as a ring road around the historic Old Town district of Vienna.
Until the beginning of the 20th century, Vienna was the largest German-speaking city in the world, and before the splitting of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in World War I, the city had 2 million inhabitants.
During the early 1910s Adolf Hitler worked as a struggling painter in Vienna, copying scenes from postcards and selling his paintings to merchants and tourists.
When World War 1 broke out, Vladimir Lenin was captured and imprisoned. He might have been shot as a Russian spy by the Austrians if the Socialist mayor of Vienna, hadn’t believed the Bolshevik was a greater danger to the Russians than he was to the Austrians.
In 1913, Hitler, Freud, Tito, Stalin, and Trotsky all lived within two square miles of each other in Vienna. At that time, Vienna was a hub of intellectual and cultural activity, and it attracted a diverse range of people from different backgrounds and disciplines. Adolf Hitler was an aspiring artist who had been rejected from the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts, while Leon Trotsky was a revolutionary socialist who had been exiled from Russia. Joseph Tito was a young man working odd jobs and trying to find his place in the world, while Sigmund Freud was a renowned psychoanalyst who had already made significant contributions to the field of psychology. Joseph Stalin was also living in Vienna at the time, working as an organizer for the Bolshevik party.
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| Pixabay |
HISTORY
The history of Vienna goes back to the Celts who settled the site on the Danube River.
In 15 BC the Romans started a military camp on the site called Vindobona to guard the empire against Germanic tribes to the north. The Romans stayed until the 5th century.
By 1437, Vienna had grown to become the de facto capital of the Holy Roman Empire and a cultural centre for arts and science, music and fine cuisine.
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| Depiction of Vienna in the Nuremberg Chronicle, 1493 |
The Siege of Vienna ended on October 15, 1529 as the Austrians repelled the Turks, turning the tide against almost a century of unchecked conquest throughout eastern and central Europe by the Ottoman Empire.
The failure of the siege marked the beginning of 150 years of bitter military tension and reciprocal attacks.. The Christian counter-offensive began in 1683 when a 70,000 strong Christian Polish and German army defeated a vast Turkish army at the gates of Vienna in 1683, thus warding off a threat to Christendom in central Europe.
Vienna's old city walls were replaced by a wide street, the Ringstraße between the 1860s to 1890s,. The circular grand boulevard serves as a ring road around the historic Old Town district of Vienna.
Until the beginning of the 20th century, Vienna was the largest German-speaking city in the world, and before the splitting of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in World War I, the city had 2 million inhabitants.
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| Vienna Ringstraße and State Opera around 1870 |
During the early 1910s Adolf Hitler worked as a struggling painter in Vienna, copying scenes from postcards and selling his paintings to merchants and tourists.
When World War 1 broke out, Vladimir Lenin was captured and imprisoned. He might have been shot as a Russian spy by the Austrians if the Socialist mayor of Vienna, hadn’t believed the Bolshevik was a greater danger to the Russians than he was to the Austrians.
In 1913, Hitler, Freud, Tito, Stalin, and Trotsky all lived within two square miles of each other in Vienna. At that time, Vienna was a hub of intellectual and cultural activity, and it attracted a diverse range of people from different backgrounds and disciplines. Adolf Hitler was an aspiring artist who had been rejected from the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts, while Leon Trotsky was a revolutionary socialist who had been exiled from Russia. Joseph Tito was a young man working odd jobs and trying to find his place in the world, while Sigmund Freud was a renowned psychoanalyst who had already made significant contributions to the field of psychology. Joseph Stalin was also living in Vienna at the time, working as an organizer for the Bolshevik party.
During World War II 20% of Vienna's buildings were destroyed, After the war, the city was divided into US, British, French, and Soviet zones. The four-power control of Vienna lasted until the Austrian State Treaty was signed in May 1955.
In 2001, the city centre was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
MUSIC
Vienna is regarded as the City of Music, because of its musical legacy. It is associated with Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Strauss waltzes, and the development of atonal music.
The waltz became fashionable in Vienna around the 1780s, spreading to many other countries in the years to follow.
Mozart had 14 different places of residence in Vienna including nine moves in one year. He spent the year 1786 in Vienna in an apartment which may be visited today at Domgasse 5 behind St. Stephen's Cathedral; it was here that Mozart composed The Marriage of Figaro.
Schubert lived in Vienna for most of his life. He occupied 17 residences in the Austrian city including the first five years of his life in a one room apartment of a house called The Red Crayfish, now a museum at Nussdorf Erstrasse 54 Vienna.
Every year, more than 450 balls take place in Vienna—which means there's about 2000 hours of ball dancing annually.
FUN VIENNA FACTS
Vienna is the federal capital and largest city of Austria, with a population of about 1.9 million (2.6 million within the metropolitan area, nearly one third of Austria's population),
Vienna is further north than Munich. While Vienna has a latitude of 48.2, Munich just beats it with a latitude of 48.1. Vienna is also further to the east than Prague.
The city is known for its high quality of life. In a 2018 study of world cities, the Economist Intelligence Unit ranked Vienna in the number one spot in a list of the world's most liveable cities.
Vienna has much Renaissance and baroque architecture including, the Hofburg (the former Imperial Palace which is now the residence of the President of the Republic of Austria) and Schönbrunn Palace (the summer palace of the Habsburg emperors), which has 1,440 rooms.
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| Schönbrunn. Pixiebay |
The zoo at Schönbrunn was founded in 1752. In 1765 it became the world's first zoo to open to the public – but only if the visitors were dressed properly.
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