Vienna

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Vienna (/viˈɛnə/ ( listen);[9][10] German: Wien [viːn] ( listen); Central Austro-Bavarian: Wean [veɐ̯n]; Viennese German and Austrian German: Wian [vɪa:n]) is the capital and largest city of Austria. It is also one of Austria's nine states.

Wien  (German)
Capital city
Schönbrunn Palace
Vienna City Hall, Rathaus
Austrian ParliamentSt. Stephen's Cathedral
Hofburg Palace
Flag of Vienna
Official seal of Vienna
Coat of arms of Vienna
Location of Vienna in Austria
Location of Vienna in Austria
Coordinates: 48°12′N 16°22′E / 48.200°N 16.367°E / 48.200; 16.367
CountryFlag of Austria.svg Austria
Government
 • Mayor and GovernorMichael Häupl (SPÖ)
 • Vice-Mayors
Area
 • Capital city414.65 km2 (160.10 sq mi)
 • Land395.26 km2 (152.61 sq mi)
 • Water19.39 km2 (7.49 sq mi)
Elevation
151 (Lobau) – 542 (Hermannskogel) m (495–1,778 ft)
Population
 (1. January 2017)
 • Capital city1,867,960 Increase
 • Rank1st in Austria (7th in EU)
 • Density4,326.1/km2 (11,205/sq mi)
 • Metro
2,600,000
 • Ethnicity[1][2]
61.2% Austrian
38.8% Other
 Statistik Austria,[3] VCÖ – Mobilität mit Zukunft[4]
Time zoneUTC+1 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code
1010–1423, 1600, 1601, 1810, 1901
Vehicle registrationW
 - Nominal GDP (2015)[5]€86.5 billion/ US$96 billion
 - GDP per capita (2015)[6]€47,700/ US$52,500[7]
GeoTLD.wien
Websitewww.wien.gv.at

Official nameHistoric Centre of Vienna
TypeCultural
Criteriaii, iv, vi
Designated2001 (25th session)
Reference no.1033
UNESCO RegionEurope and North America
Endangered2017 (2017)–present[8]

It is in the east of the country on the river Danube. More than 1,800,000 people live there (2016). It is an administrative district (Bundesland) of its own.

Before World War I, it was the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Its centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Name

In regard to the etymology of the city's name, scholars are not in agreement. Some claim that the name comes from vedunia, meaning "forest stream"; From that word, came the Old High German word uuenia (wenia in modern writing), and the New High German word wien and its dialectal variant wean.

History

The history of the city goes back to the Roman Empire. The Romans started a military camp called Vindobona.[11] The camp was in today's first district on the Danube river. The name came from the Celts, so there was probably a Celtic settlement before the Roman invasion. The Romans stayed until the 5th century. In medieval times, the settlement was still in use. The present name was mentioned in 881 in the Salzburger Annalen, where a battle ad weniam is mentioned.

In 976 the House of Babenberg became rulers of the area. They made Vienna their capital in 1155. Vienna was already an important city. In 1156, Austria became a Duchy, and Vienna was where the Duke who ruled the Duchy lived. In 1221, Vienna got municipal rights. It Is the second oldest city in Austria (Enns, in Upper Austria, is the oldest).

In 1278, the Duchy came to the Habsburg family. Rudolf IV started the university in 1365 and while he was duke the nave of the Gothic St. Stephan's Cathedral was built. Quarrels within the Hapsburg family caused an economic decline in Vienna. In 1438, Vienna became the residence of the Holy Roman Emperor.

During the time of the reformation Vienna was a Protestant city, but in the times of the Counter Reformation, Austria and Vienna were mostly Roman Catholic.

In 1529, Vienna was first besieged by the army of the Ottoman Empire, which had a border only 150 km east of Vienna. This hurt Vienna economically, but led to people fortifying the city (making it stronger). After a second siege, the Ottoman Empire could not take Vienna, and the city started getting larger.

During the baroque era, Vienna was rebuilt. Many residences for the nobility were built. Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach was an important architect in Vienna.

At the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century Vienna was the home of important composers like Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert.

After the revolution in 1848 Franz Joseph I. became emperor of the Austrian Empire, which was founded in 1806 after the liquidation of the Holy Roman Empire. He ruled till 1916. Vienna became a center of arts, culture and architecture. The city grew because the suburbs became part of the city. After 1858 the walls of the city were destroyed and the Ringstraße replaced them. Along that street houses of the rich citizens were built, as were public buildings like the city hall and the Burg theatre. The industrialisation started at the beginning of the century and made more people live there. In 1870, Vienna had one million people, and in 1910, two million people. With the creation of a large working class and poverty in Vienna the Labour Party (Sozialdemokratische Arbeiterpartei) became stronger.

Karl Lueger was the most important mayor in the time of Emperor Franz Josef. During his time important community plans were realized that made Vienna a modern city. However, Lueger was a radical anti-Semite. He was admired by the young Adolf Hitler, who spent some years before the First World War in Vienna. At this time, Vienna was an important place for the arts. Composers like Arnold Schönberg, Anton Webern, Alban Berg and Ernst Krenek were important for the development of modern music. Also the psychoanalysis was founded in Vienna by Sigmund Freud. Also the so-called Jugendstil in arts was part of Vienna's modern arts scene. Founding fathers of modern architecture lived and worked also in Vienna at this time (Otto Wagner, Adolf Loos)

After the end of the First World War the Austrian-Hungary Empire was dissolved and Vienna became capital of the Republic of Austria. In 1938, Austria was occupied by Germany. In Vienna the suffering of the Jewish inhabitants began. A lot of their properties was given to Austrians (Arisierung).

After the Second World War, which destroyed 20% of Vienna's buildings, Vienna was divided into four parts. The city was controlled by the allies like the other parts of Austria. In 1955 the state treaty between the allies and Austria was signed in Vienna's Belvedere. After that Vienna became an important city for international organisations. The first was 1957 the International Atomic Energy Organisation (IAEO) and 1965 the OPEC followed. 1980 the Vienna International Center was opened and Vienna is now the third UN-city together with New York and Geneva.

Districts

There are 23 districts in Vienna. They are:

  1. Innere Stadt (city centre)
  2. Leopoldstadt
  3. Landstraße
  4. Wieden
  5. Margareten
  6. Mariahilf
  7. Neubau
  8. Josefstadt
  9. Alsergrund
  10. Favoriten
  11. Simmering
  12. Meidling
  13. Hietzing
  14. Penzing
  15. Rudolfsheim-Fünfhaus
  16. Ottakring
  17. Hernals
  18. Währing
  19. Döbling
  20. Brigittenau
  21. Floridsdorf
  22. Donaustadt
  23. Liesing

Sightseeing

Vienna has many things worth seeing. Here are a few of them.

Culture

 
St. Stephan's Cathedral in Vienna is amongst the most famous buildings in Austria.

There are many old buildings, churches and museums in the city centre. Classical music and opera are popular in Vienna. The composers Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven and Brahms all worked in Vienna. Vivaldi also died in Vienna. The city has two world-famous orchestras: the Vienna Philharmonic and the Vienna Symphony.

Vienna is also the name of a song about the city, by the British group Ultravox.

Vienna is the home of the nationally successful soccer clubs SK Rapid Wien and FK Austria Wien.

Vienna Media

References

  1. STATISTIK AUSTRIA. "Bevölkerung zu Jahres-/Quartalsanfang". statistik.at. Retrieved 2016-02-12.
  2. "Vienna in figures 2012, Vienna City Administration Municipal Department 23 Economic Affairs, Labour and Statistics Responsible for the contents: Gustav Lebhart, page 6" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 October 2012. Retrieved 21 September 2012.
  3. "Statistik Austria – Bevölkerung zu Quartalsbeginn seit 2002 nach Bundesland". Statistik.at. 14 February 2013. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
  4. "VCÖ.at: VCÖ fordert Nahverkehrsoffensive gegen Verkehrskollaps in den Städten". vcoe.at. 2008. Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 5 August 2009.
  5. http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/2995521/7192292/1-26022016-AP-EN.pdf/602b34e8-abba-439e-b555-4c3cb1dbbe6e
  6. http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/2995521/7962764/1-30032017-AP-EN.pdf/4e9c09e5-c743-41a5-afc8-eb4aa89913f6
  7. XE.com average EUR/ USD ex. rate in 2015
  8. Centre, UNESCO World Heritage. "Historic Centre of Vienna inscribed on List of World Heritage in Danger". UNESCO World Heritage Centre.
  9. Wells, John C. (2008), Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (3rd ed.), Longman, ISBN 978-1-4058-8118-0
  10. Roach, Peter (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary (18th ed.), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-15253-2
  11. "Vindobona (Vienna)". livius.org. 2011. Archived from the original on 3 April 2013. Retrieved 22 November 2011.

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