Executive summary by Darmansjah
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The city was ranked 1st globally for its culture of
innovation in 2007 and 2008, and fifth globally (out of 256 cities) in the 2011
Innovation Cities Index, which analyzed 162 indicators in covering three areas:
culture, infrastructure and markets. Vienna regularly hosts urban planning
conferences and is often used as a case study by urban planners.
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Districts
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As had been planned in 1919 for all of Austria but not
introduced, district residents in Vienna (Austrians as well as EU citizens with
permanent residence here) elect a District Assembly (Bezirksvertretung), which
chooses the District Head (Bezirksvorsteher) as political representative of the
district on city level. City hall has delegated maintenance budgets, e.g., for
schools and parks, so that they are able to set priorities autonomously. Any
decision of a district can be overridden by the city assembly (Gemeinderat) or
the responsible city councillor (amtsführender Stadrat).
The heart and historical city of Vienna, a large part of
today's Innere Stadt, was a fortress surrounded by fields in order to defend
itself from potential attackers. In 1850, Vienna with the consent of the
emperor annexed 34 surrounding villages,called Vorstädte, into the city limits
(districts no. 2 to 8, after 1861 with the separation of Margareten from Wieden
no. 2 to 9). Consequently the walls were razed after 1857, making it possible
for the city centre to expand.
Leisure activities
Vienna possesses many parks, including the Stadtpark, the
Burggarten, the Volksgarten (part of the Hofburg), the Schlosspark at Schloss
Belvedere (home to the Vienna Botanic Gardens), the Donaupark, the Schönbrunner
Schlosspark, the Prater, the Augarten, the Rathauspark, the Lainzer Tiergarten,
the Dehnepark, the Resselpark, the Votivpark, the Kurpark Oberlaa, the
Auer-Welsbach-Park and the Türkenschanzpark. Green areas include Laaer-Berg
(including the Bohemian Prater) and the foothills of the Wienerwald, which
reaches into the outer areas of the city. Small parks, known by the Viennese as
Beserlparks, are everywhere in the inner city areas.
Many of Vienna's famous parks include monuments, such as the
Stadtpark with its statue of Johann Strauss II, and the gardens of the baroque
palace, where the State Treaty was signed. Vienna's principal park is the
Prater which is home to the Riesenrad, a Ferris wheel. The imperial
Schönbrunn's grounds contain an 18th-century park which includes the world's
oldest zoo, founded in 1752. The Donauinsel, part of Vienna's flood defences,
is a 21.1 km (13.1 mi) long artificial island between the Danube and Neue Donau
dedicated to leisure activities.
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From 1850 to 1890, city limits in the West and the South
mainly followed another wall called Linienwall. Outside this wall from 1873
onwards a ring road called Gürtel was built. In 1890 it was decided to
integrate 33 suburbs (called Vororte) beyond that wall into Vienna by 1 January
1892 and transform them into districts no. 11 to 19 (district no. 10 had
been constituted in 1874); hence the Linienwall was torn down beginning in
1894. In 1900, district no. 20, Brigittenau, was created by separating the area
from the 2nd district.
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Music is one of Vienna's legacies. Musical prodigies
including Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Joseph Haydn, Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz
Schubert, Johannes Brahms, Gustav Mahler and Arnold Schoenberg have worked
there.
Art and culture had a long tradition in Vienna, including
theatre, opera, classical music and fine arts. The Burgtheater is considered
one of the best theatres in the German-speaking world alongside its branch, the
Akademietheater. The Volkstheater Wien and the Theater in der Josefstadt also
enjoy good reputations. There is also a multitude of smaller theatres, in many
cases devoted to less mainstream forms of the performing arts, such as modern,
experimental plays or cabaret.
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In recent years, the Theater an der Wien has hosted
premieres of musicals, although it has recently[when?] devoted itself to the
opera again. The most successful musical by far was
"Elisabeth",[citation needed] which was later translated into several
languages and performed all over the world. The Wiener Taschenoper is dedicated
to stage music of the 20th and 21st century. The Haus der Musik ("house of
music") opened in the year 2000.
The Wienerlied is a unique song genre from Vienna. There are
approximately 60,000 – 70,000 Wienerlieder.
In 1981 the popular British new romantic group Ultravox paid
a tribute to Vienna on an album and an artful music video recording called
"Vienna". The inspiration for this work arose from the cinema
production called "The Third Man" with the title Zither music of
Anton Karas.
The Vienna's English Theatre (VET) is an English theater in
Vienna. It was founded in 1963 and is located in the 8th Vienna's district. It
is the oldest English-language theater in Europe outside the UK.
Museums
A number of museums are located in the Museumsquartier
(museum quarter), the former Imperial Stalls which were converted into a museum
complex in the 1990s. It houses the Museum of Modern Art, commonly known as the
MUMOK (Ludwig Foundation), the Leopold Museum (featuring the largest collection
of paintings in the world by Egon Schiele, as well as works by the Vienna
Secession, Viennese Modernism and Austrian Expressionism), the AzW (museum of
architecture), additional halls with feature exhibitions, and the Tanzquartier.
The Liechtenstein Palace contains much of one of the world's largest private
art collections, especially strong in the Baroque. Castle Belvedere, built
under Prinz Eugen, has a gallery containing paintings by Gustav Klimt (The
Kiss), Egon Schiele, and other painters of the early 20th century, also
sculptures by Franz Xaver Messerschmidt, and changing exhibitions too.
There are a multitude of other museums in Vienna, including
the Albertina, the Military History Museum, the Technical Museum, the Burial
Museum, the Museum of Art Fakes, the KunstHausWien, the Sigmund Freud Museum,
and the Mozarthaus Vienna. The museums on the history of the city, including
the former Historical Museum of the City of Vienna on Karlsplatz, the
Hermesvilla, the residences and birthplaces of various composers, the Museum of
the Romans, and the Vienna Clock Museum, are now gathered together under the
group umbrella Vienna Museum. In addition there are museums dedicated to
Vienna's individual districts. They provide a record of individual struggles,
achievements and tragedy as the city grew and survived two world wars. For
readers seeking family histories these are good sources of information.
Architecture
Palais Ferstel
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.
Concurrent to the Art Nouveau movement was the Wiener
Moderne, during which some architects shunned the use of extraneous adornment.
A key architect of this period was Adolf Loos, whose works include the Looshaus
(1909), the Kärntner Bar or American Bar (1908) and the Steiner House (1910).
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-meter high Millennium Tower located at Handelskai
is the highest building in Vienna, but the new DC Tower 1 will be higher in the
end of 2013 with about 220 m or 250 m with antenna.[50][51] 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.
Food
Wiener Schnitzel
Vienna is well known for Wiener Schnitzel, a cutlet of veal
(Kalbs Schnitzel) or pork (Schweins Schnitzel) that is pounded flat, coated in
flour, egg and breadcrumbs, and fried in clarified butter. It is available in
almost every restaurant that serves Viennese cuisine and can be eaten hot or
cold. Other examples of Viennese cuisine include Tafelspitz (very lean boiled
beef), which is traditionally served with Geröstete Erdäpfel (boiled potatoes
mashed with a fork and subsequently fried) and horseradish sauce, Apfelkren (a
mixture of horseradish, cream and apple) and Schnittlauchsauce (a chives sauce
made with mayonnaise and stale bread).
Vienna has a long tradition of producing the finest cakes
and desserts. These include Apfelstrudel (hot apple strudel), Millirahmstrudel
(milk-cream strudel), Palatschinken (sweet pancakes), and Knödel (dumplings)
often filled with fruit such as apricots (Marillenknödel). Sachertorte, a
delicately moist chocolate cake with apricot jam created by the Sacher Hotel,
is world famous.
In winter, small street stands sell traditional Maroni (hot
chestnuts) and potato fritters.
Sausages are popular and available from street vendors
(Würstelstand) throughout the day and into the night. The sausage known as
Wiener (German for Viennese) in the U.S. and in Germany, is in Vienna called a
Frankfurter. Other popular sausages are Burenwurst (a coarse beef and pork
sausage, generally boiled), Käsekrainer (spicy pork with small chunks of
cheese), and Bratwurst (a white pork sausage). Most can be ordered "mit
Brot" (with bread) or as a "hot dog" (stuffed inside a long
roll). Mustard is the traditional condiment and usually offered in two
varieties: "süß" (sweet) or "scharf" (spicy).
Kebab and pizza are, increasingly, the snack foods most
widely available from small stands.
The Naschmarkt is a permanent market for fruit, vegetables,
spices, fish, meat, etc., from around the world. The city has many coffee and
breakfast stores.
Drinks
Vienna, along with Paris, Prague, Bratislava, Warsaw and
London, is one of the few remaining world capital cities with its own
vineyards. The wine is served in small Viennese pubs known as Heuriger, which
are especially numerous in the wine growing areas of Döbling (Grinzing,
Neustift am Walde, Nußdorf, Salmannsdorf, Sievering), Floridsdorf (Stammersdorf,
Strebersdorf), Liesing (Mauer) and Favoriten (Oberlaa). The wine is often drunk
as a Spritzer ("G'spritzter") with sparkling water. The Grüner
Veltliner, a dry white wine, is the most widely cultivated wine in Austria.
Beer is next in importance to wine. Vienna has a single
large brewery, Ottakringer, and more than ten microbreweries. A
"Beisl" is a typical small Austrian pub, of which Vienna has many.
Viennese cafés have an extremely long and distinguished
history that dates back centuries, and the caffeine addictions of some famous
historical patrons of the oldest are something of a local legend. These coffee
houses are unique to Vienna and many cities have unsuccessfully sought to copy
them. Traditionally, the coffee comes with a glass of water. Viennese cafés
claim to have invented the process of filtering coffee from booty captured
after the second Turkish siege in 1683. Viennese cafés claim that when the
invading Turks left Vienna, they abandoned hundreds of sacks of coffee beans.
The Polish King Jan III Sobieski, the commander of the anti-Turkish coalition
of Poles, Germans, and Austrians, gave Franz George Kolschitzky (Polish –
Franciszek Jerzy Kulczycki) some of this coffee as a reward for providing
information that allowed him to defeat the Turks. Kolschitzky then opened
Vienna's first coffee shop. Julius Meinl set up a modern roasting plant in the
same premises where the coffee sacks were found, in 1891.
Tourist attractions
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
Heurigen district Döbling.
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, 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, St. Ulrich and the Votivkirche.
Modern attractions include the Hundertwasserhaus, the United
Nations headquarters and the view from the Donauturm.
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