Vienna 1 Vienna

Vienna 1 Vienna Vienna Wien Left–right, top–bottom: Rathaus, Schloss Schönbrunn, Riesenrad, Staatsoper, Stephansdom, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Stephansplatz, Sachertorte, Johann-Strauß-Denkmal, Sezession, Donau City, Hundertwasserhaus Flag Seal Coat of arms Vienna Location of Vienna in Austria Coordinates: 48°12′32″N 16°22′21″E Country Austria State Wien Government • Mayor Michael Häupl (SPÖ) Vienna 2 • Vice-Mayor Maria Vassilakou (Grüne) Area • City 414.65 km2 (160.1 sq mi) • Land 395.26 km2 (152.61 sq mi) • Water 19.39 km2 (7.49 sq mi) Elevation 151 (Lobau) – 542 (Hermannskogel) m (495–1778 ft) Population (2011) • City 1731236 • Density 4002.2/km2 (10,366/sq mi) • Urban 1,983,836 • Metro ca. 2419000 [1] [2] • Ethnicity 61.2% Austrian 38.8% Other [3] [4] Statistik Austria, VCÖ – Mobilität mit Zukunft Time zone CET (UTC+1) • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2) [5] Website www.wien.gv.at UNESCO World Heritage Site Historic Centre of Vienna Name as inscribed on the World Heritage List [6] Country Austria Type Cultural Criteria ii, iv, vi [7] Reference 1033 [8] Europe and North America UNESCO region Inscription history Inscription 2001 (25th Session) Vienna (/viːˈɛnə/; German: Wien [viːn], Austro-Bavarian: Wean) is the capital and the largest city of Austria, and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.731 million[9] (2.4 million within the metropolitan area,[4] 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 9th-largest city by population in the European Union. Until the beginning of the 20th century it 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.[10] Vienna is host to many major international organizations, including the United Nations and OPEC. The city lies in the east of Austria and is close to the borders of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary. These regions work together in a European Centrope border region. Along with nearby Bratislava, Vienna forms a metropolitan region with 3 million inhabitants. In 2001, the city centre was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.[11] Vienna 3 Apart from being regarded as the City of Music[12] because of its musical legacy, Vienna is also said to be "The City of Dreams" because it was home to the world's first psycho-analyst - Sigmund Freud.[13] The city's roots lie in early Celtic and Roman settlements that transformed into a Medieval and Baroque city, the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It is well known for playing 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.[14] In a 2005 study of 127 world cities, the Economist Intelligence Unit ranked the city first (in a tie with Vancouver, Canada) for the world's most livable cities (in the 2012 survey of 140 cities Vienna was ranked number two, behind Melbourne).[15][16][17] For three consecutive years (2009–2011), the human-resource-consulting firm Mercer ranked Vienna first in its annual "Quality of Living" survey of hundreds of cities around the world.[18][19][20] Monocle's 2012 "Quality of Life Survey" ranked Vienna fourth on a list of the top 25 cities in the world "to make a base within" (up from sixth in 2011 and eighth in 2010).[21][22][23][24] The city was ranked 1st globally for its culture of innovation in 2007 and 2008, and 2nd globally (out of 256 cities) after Boston in the 2009 Innovation Cities Index, which analyzed 162 indicators in covering 3 areas: culture, infrastructure and markets.[25] Vienna regularly hosts urban planning conferences and is often used as a case study by urban planners.[26] Each year since 2005, Vienna has been the world's number one destination for international congresses and conventions.[27] Vienna attracts about five million tourists a year.[28] Name The English name Vienna is borrowed from the Italian name Vienna. "Vienna" and the official German name Wien, and the names of the city in most languages, are thought to be derived from the Celtic word "windo-", meaning bright or fair – as in the Irish "fionn" and the Welsh "gwyn" – but opinions vary on the precise origin. Some claim that the name comes from Vedunia, meaning "forest stream," which subsequently became Venia, Wienne and Wien. Others claim that the name comes from the Roman settlement of Celtic name Vindobona (Celtic "windo-bona"), probably meaning "white base/bottom [land]," which became Vindovina, Vídeň (Czech) and Wien.[29] The name of the city in Hungarian (Bécs), Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian (Beč) and Ottoman Turkish (Beç) appears to have a different, Slavonic origin, and originally referred to an Avar fort in the area.[30] In Slovene, the city is called Dunaj, which in other Slavic languages means the Danube River, on which it is located. History Evidence of continuous habitation has been found since 500 BC, when the site of Vienna on the Danube River was settled by the Celts. In 15 BC, the Romans fortified the frontier city they called Vindobona to guard the empire against Germanic tribes to the north. Close ties with other Celtic peoples continued through the ages. The Irish monk Saint Colman (or Koloman, Irish Colmán, derived from Vienna in 1493 from the Nuremberg Chronicle colm "dove") is buried in Melk Abbey and Saint Fergil (Virgil the Geometer) was Bishop of Salzburg for forty years, and twelfth century monastic settlements were founded by Irish Benedictines. Evidence of these ties are still evident in Vienna's great Schottenstift monastery, once home to many Irish monks. Vienna 4 During the Middle Ages, Vienna was home to the Babenberg dynasty; in 1440, it became the resident city of the Habsburg dynasties. It eventually grew to become the de facto capital of the Holy Roman Empire (1483/1806) and a cultural centre for arts and science, music and fine cuisine. Hungary occupied the city between 1485–1490. In the 16th and 17th centuries, the Ottoman armies were stopped twice outside Vienna (see Siege of Vienna, 1529 and Battle of Vienna, 1683). A plague epidemic ravaged Vienna in 1679, killing nearly a third of its population.[31] Roman ruins at Michaelerplatz Austro-Hungarian Empire In 1804, during the Napoleonic wars, Vienna became the capital of the Austrian Empire and continued to play a major role in European and world politics, including hosting the 1814 Congress of Vienna. After the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, Vienna remained the capital of what was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The city was a centre of classical music, for which the title of the First Viennese School is sometimes applied. During the latter half of the 19th century, the city developed what had Vienna map, 1773–81 previously been the bastions and glacis into the Ringstraße, a new boulevard surrounding the historical town and a major prestige project. Former suburbs were incorporated, and the city of Vienna grew dramatically. In 1918, after World War I, Vienna became capital of the Republic of German-Austria, and then in 1919 of the First Republic of Austria. From the late 19th century to 1938, the city remained a centre of high culture and modernism. A world capital of music, the city played host to composers such as Brahms, Bruckner, Mahler and Richard Strauss. View of Vienna in 1758, by Bernardo Bellotto The city's cultural contributions in the first half of the 20th century included, amongst many, the Vienna Secession movement, psychoanalysis, the Second Viennese School, the architecture of Adolf Loos and the philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein and the Vienna Circle. Within Austria, it was seen as a centre of socialist politics, for which it was sometimes referred to as "Red Vienna". The city was a stage to the Austrian Civil War of 1934, when Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss sent the Austrian Army to shell civilian housing..see Karl Marx Hof.. occupied by the socialist militia. Vienna in 1900 Vienna 5 The Anschluss and World War II In 1938, after a triumphant entry into Austria, Adolf Hitler spoke to the Austrian people from the balcony of the Neue Burg, a part of the Hofburg at the Heldenplatz. Between 1938 (see Anschluss) and the end of the Second World War, Vienna lost its status as a capital to Berlin. On 2 April 1945, the Soviets launched the Vienna Offensive against the Germans holding the city and besieged it. British and American air raids and artillery duels between the SS and Wehrmacht and the Red Army crippled infrastructure, such as tram services and water and Cheering crowds greet the Nazis entering the city power distribution, and destroyed or damaged thousands of public and private buildings. Vienna fell eleven days later. Austria was separated from Germany, and Vienna was restored as the republic's capital city, but the Soviet hold on the city remained until 1955. Four-power Vienna After the war, Vienna was surrounded by the Soviet-occupied zone. As in Berlin, Vienna was divided into sectors by the four powers: the USA, UK, France and Soviet Russia and supervised by an Allied Commission. The four-power occupation of Vienna differed in one key respect from that of Berlin: the central area of the city, known as the first district, constituted an international zone in which the four powers Occupation zones in Vienna, 1945–55 alternated control on a monthly basis.

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