Architecture in Vienna

Architecture & Buildings and structures in Austria
A variety of architectural styles can be found in Vienna, such as the Romanesque Ruprechtskirche and the Baroque Karlskirche. Styles range from classicist buildings to modern architecture. Art Nouveau left many architectural traces in Vienna. The Secession, Karlsplatz Stadtbahn Station, and the Kirche am Steinhof by Otto Wagner rank among the best known examples of Art Nouveau in the world.

The Hundertwasserhaus by Friedensreich Hundertwasser, designed to counter the clinical look of modern architecture, is one of Vienna's most popular tourist attractions. Another example of unique architecture is the Wotrubakirche by sculptor Fritz Wotruba. In the 1990s, a number of quarters were adapted and extensive building projects were implemented in the areas around Donaustadt (north of the Danube) and Wienerberg (in southern Vienna). The 202 m-high Millennium Tower located at Handelskai is the highest building in Vienna. In recent years, Vienna has seen numerous architecture projects completed which combine modern architectural elements with old buildings, such as the remodelling and revitalisation of the old Gasometer in 2001.

Most buildings in Vienna are relatively low; in early 2006 there were around 100 buildings higher than 40 m. The number of high-rise buildings is kept low by building legislation aimed at preserving green areas and districts designated as world cultural heritage. Strong rules apply to the planning, authorisation and construction of high-rise buildings. Consequently, much of the inner city is a high-rise free zone.

Spanish Riding School - Vienna

Riding horse in Wien/Vienna Austria
Spanish Riding horses School of Vienna, Austria, is a traditional riding school for Lipizzan horses, which perform in the Winter Riding School in the Hofburg. Not only is it a center for classical dressage, the headquarters is a tourist attraction in Vienna that offers public performances as well as permitting public viewing of some training sessions. The presentation builds on four centuries of experience and tradition in classical dressage. The leading horses and riders of the school also periodically tour and perform worldwide.
The Spanish Riding School is located between Michaelerplatz and Josefsplatz near the Hofburg in central Vienna. Performances take place in the Winter Riding School, built between 1729-1735. The Winter Riding School is a sunlight- flooded hall, mainly white with some beige and light grey, with a portrait of Emperor Charles VI above the royal box and opposite the entrance (to which the riders always salute before they ride), which measures 55 by 18 meters and is 17 meters in height.

The Spanish Riding School also has summer stables in Heldenberg-Wetzdorf-Lower Austria. The 68 resident stallions are taken there in July and August for seven weeks, where they are kept in Stalls with paddocks. The horses are not schooled during this period, but instead are hacked in the nearby forest.

Vienna Philharmonic - VPO

In Vienna see and Buy ticket The concert Vienna Philharmonic orchestra
Vienna Philharmonic is an orchestra in Austria, regularly considered one of the finest in the world.
Its home base is the Musikverein. The members of the orchestra are chosen from the Orchestra of the Vienna State Opera. This process is a long one, with each musician having to prove his or her capability for a minimum of three years' playing for the Opera and Ballet. Once this is achieved the musician can then ask the Board of the Wiener Philharmoniker to consider an application for a position in the Vienna Philharmonic.
The Vienna Philharmonic was named as Europe's finest in a recent survey by seven leading trade publications, two radio stations and a daily newspaper. Subscription ticket demand for the Vienna Philharmonic at their home, Musikverein, is currently listed on the orchestra's website as being on a waiting list. The waiting list for weekday concert subscriptions is six years and thirteen years for weekend subscriptions. Casual tickets however, are available in small numbers and can be bought via links from the VPO website, to various ticket resellers. It is also possible to book package deals which include transport, hotel accommodation and meals and tickets to concerts.

Vienna Philharmonic orchestra can trace its origins to 1842, when Otto Nicolai formed the Philharmonische Academie; which was a fully independent orchestra and which took all its decisions by a democratic vote of all its members. These are principles the orchestra still holds today.

With Nicolai's departure in 1847, the Vienna Philharmonic orchestra nearly folded, and was not very active until 1860, when Karl Anton Eckert joined as conductor. He gave a series of four subscription concerts, and since then, the orchestra has given concerts continuously.

From 1875 to 1898 Hans Richter was principal conductor, except for the season 1882-1883 when he was in dispute with the orchestral committee. During Richter's tenure, the orchestra gave the premieres of the Symphony No. 2 and Symphony No. 3 of Johannes Brahms, and Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 8.

The Vienna Philharmonic orchestra is so popular and famous, that it has been the motive of one of the world's most famous bullion coins: the Vienna Philharmonic coin. The coin is struck in pure gold, 999.9 fine (24 carats). It is issued every year, in four different face values, sizes and weights. It is used as an investment product, although it finishes almost always in the hands of collectors. According to the World Gold Council, this coin was the best selling gold coin in 1992, 1995 and 1996 world wide.
Austrian Airlines was outfitted with a livery featuring the gold coin and logo of the Wiener Philharmoniker (2006). The long-range Airbus A340-300 aircraft was flown primarily between Vienna and Tokyo for approximately one year serving as promotional tool for the orchestra and the Philharmoniker, 24 karat gold coin issued by the Austrian Mint.

Vienna State Opera - Wien Austria

See opera in Vienna Austria and Buy ticket ...

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, Austria. It was originally called the Vienna Court Opera (Wiener Hofoper); in 1920, it was renamed the Vienna State Opera. The members of the Vienna Philharmonic are recruited from its orchestra
The Vienna State Opera is closely linked to the Vienna Philharmonic, which is an incorporated society of its own, but whose members are recruited from the orchestra of the Vienna State Opera.
The Wiener Staatsoper is one of the busiest opera houses in the world producing 50 to 60 operas per year in approximately 200 performances. It is quite common to find a different opera being produced each day of a week. As such, the Staatsoper employs over 1000 people. As of 2008, the annual operating budget of the Staatsoper was 100 million Euros with slightly more than 50% coming in the form of a state subsidy.

The opera company operates a repertoire system: more than 50 productions are staged every year, and there is a performance nearly every day for ten months of the year.

Burgtheater - Vienna

The Burgtheater ( is Theatres in Austria), originally known as K.K. Theater an der Burg, then until 1920 as the K.K. Hofburgtheater, is the Austrian National Theatre in Vienna and one of the most important German language theatres in the world. The Burgtheater was created on 14 March 1741 by Habsburg Empress Maria Theresa of Austria to be a theatre next to her palace, and her son, Emperor Joseph II called it the "German National Theatre" in 1776, Habsburg has become known as "die Burg" by the Viennese population; its theater company of more or less regular members has created a traditional style and speech typical of Burgtheater performances.
Habsburg It was Three Mozart operas premiered there: Die Entführung aus dem Serail (1782), Le nozze di Figaro (1786) and Così fan tutte (1790). Beginning in 1794, the theatre was called the "K.K. Hoftheater nächst der Burg".

The theatre was moved to a new building at the Ringstraße on 14 October 1888 designed by Gottfried Semper and Karl Freiherr von Hasenauer.
In 1943, under Nazi rule, a notoriously extreme production of The Merchant of Venice was staged at the Burgtheater - with Werner Krauss as Shylock, one of several theater and film roles by this actor pandering to antisemitic stereotypes.

On March 12, 1945 the Burgtheater was largely destroyed in a bombing raid, and, one month later, on April 12, 1945, the Burgtheater was further damaged by a fire of unknown origin. After the war, the theatre was restored between 1953-1955. The classic Burgtheater style and the Burgtheater-German language were trend-setting for German language theater.

United Nations Office Vienna Austria - Vienna International Centre

VIC - The Vienna International Centre, colloquially also known as UNO City in Vienna, is the campus and building complex hosting the United Nations Office at Vienna. Location Donaustadt, Vienna, Austria.
Vienna International Centre designed by Austrian architect Johann Staber, was built between 1973 and 1979 just north of the river Danube. The initial idea of setting up an international organization in Vienna came from the Chancellor of Austria Dr. Bruno Kreisky.

Six Y-shaped office towers surround a cylindrical conference building for a total floor area of 230,000 square metres. The highest tower stands 120 metres tall, enclosing 28 floors.
About 5,000 people work at the VIC, which also offers catering, banking, postal and shopping facilities. Larger conferences can be accommodated in the neighbouring Austria Center Vienna , a conference and exhibition centre with a capacity of 6,000.

The VIC is an extraterritorial area.
Complementing the ongoing asbestos removal works in the VIC, a new conference building (“C2”), to be opened in 2008, is being constructed near the southern perimeter of the campus.
A major UN site along with New York, Geneva and Nairobi, the VIC hosts several organizations:

* Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO; German: Organisation des Vertrags über das umfassende Verbot von Nuklearversuchen)
* International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA; German: Internationale Atomenergieorganisation, IAEO)
* United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL; German: Kommission der Vereinten Nationen für internationales Handelsrecht)
* United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO; German: Organisation der Vereinten Nationen für industrielle Entwicklung)
* United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC; German: Büro der Vereinten Nationen für Drogen- und Verbrechensbekämpfung)
* United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR; German: Hoher Flüchtlingskommissar der Vereinten Nationen)
* United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA; German: Büro der Vereinten Nationen für Weltraumfragen)
Two other notable international organizations headquartered in Vienna, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and OPEC, occupy facilities outside the VIC.

Hundertwasserhaus

Hundertwasserhaus
Hundertwasser House Vienna is an apartment house in Vienna, Austria, designed by Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser. This landmark of Vienna is located in the 3. district, Kegelgasse 34-38 / Löwengasse
The house was built between 1983 and 1986 by architects Univ.-Prof. Joseph Krawina and Peter Pelikan. It features undulating floors ("an uneven floor is a divine melody to the feet"), a roof covered with earth and grass, and large trees growing from inside the rooms, with limbs extending from windows. Hundertwasser took no payment for the design of the house, declaring that it was worth it, to prevent something ugly from going up in its place.

Within the house there are 52 apartments, four offices, 16 private terraces and three communal terraces, and a total of 250 trees and bushes. The Hundertwasser House is one of Vienna's most visited buildings and has become part of Austria's cultural heritage.

Vienna attractions

Vienna vacations, visit to...
Major tourist attractions include the imperial palaces of the Hofburg and Schönbrunn (also home to the world's oldest zoo, Tiergarten Schönbrunn) and the Riesenrad in the Prater. Cultural highlights include the Burgtheater, the Wiener Staatsoper, the Lipizzaner horses at the spanische Hofreitschule and the Vienna Boys' Choir, as well as excursions to Vienna's Heuriger districts.

There are also more than 100 art museums, which together attract over eight million visitors per year. The most popular ones are Albertina, Belvedere, Leopold Museum in the Museumsquartier, KunstHausWien, BA-CA Kunstforum, the twin Kunsthistorisches Museum and Naturhistorisches Museum, and the Technisches Museum Wien, each of which receives over a quarter of a million visitors per year.

There are many popular sites associated with composers who lived in Vienna including Beethoven's various residences and grave at Zentralfriedhof (Central Cemetery) which is the largest cemetery in Vienna and the burial site of many famous people. Mozart has a memorial grave at the Habsburg gardens and at St. Marx cemetery (where his grave was lost). Vienna's many churches also draw large crowds, the most famous of which are St. Stephen's Cathedral, the Deutschordenskirche, the Jesuitenkirche, the Karlskirche, the Peterskirche, Maria am Gestade, the Minoritenkirche, the Ruprechtskirche, the Schottenkirche and the Votivkirche.
Modern attractions include the Hundertwasserhaus, the United Nations headquarters and the view from the Donauturm.