Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, and Brahms (among others) are symbolized in Vienna not only with monuments but also with museums (two, in Schubert’s case: his birthplace, and the house in which he died), but it is Beethoven who is represented most. With several museums Read More
An early Gothic column on top of the Wienerberg in the 10th District celebrates the Legend of the Spinnerin (a woman who spins). This medieval wayside shrine, first mentioned in 1296, is one of a few early Gothic structures surviving in Vienna today. Read More
If you look back through the centuries at some of the symbols and customs associated with Easter, curious origins emerge. In the early days of Christianity, the church incorporated many pagan rites of spring into its Easter celebrations as it struggled to gain Read More
Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria (21 August 1858 – 30 January 1889) was the son and heir of Emperor Franz Josef of Austria and Elisabeth of Austria. His death, apparently through suicide, along with that of his mistress, Baroness Mary Vetsera at his Read More
It was an “experience which probably changed my life”, says “Nazi hunter” Simon Wiesenthal: “Two or three months after we established our own office in Linz [in 1947], three rabbis visited me one day and told me they had information that in a Read More
It was in 1949, four years after the end of the Second World War and seven years after the Austrian writer’s death that an English-language publication, the prestigious Times Literary Supplement announced the rediscovery of a forgotten writer. His name: Robert Musil. Musil Read More
This year 1000 women from more than 150 countries are jointly nominated for the famous Nobel Peace Prize! The official nomination was handed in to the Nobel Peace Prize Committee in Oslo in January 2005. As of today the names of the 1000 Read More
Even if the triumphant premiere of “Don Giovanni” was in Prague, and Italy, England and Germany marked the first flowering of his gifts, without Vienna, his most important “hometown”, Mozart would never have become what he still remains – the greatest musical genius Read More
While many of you are aware that Vienna’s water supply is piped directly from the Austrian Alps south of Vienna, you probably don’t know that the fountain in front of the Russian monument on Schwarzenbergplatz was set up to celebrate the completion of Read More
“The vintner, if sound in mind, goes around his vines seventeen times a year.” Old farming rule of thumb, valid to this day. The word Heurigen has long been part of the vocabulary of tourism in Vienna – no sightseeing visit to the Read More
As someone once put it: the streets of Vienna, are not only paved with stones but with history. A great part of the charm of the city consists in the way it transforms “history” into the “good old times during the empire.” This Read More
Vienna is an ideal-typical European city similar to Barcelona, London, Milan, Paris or Rome, but unlike the others it is very compact and easy to negotiate. Vienna is referred to by many as a unique onion, with each of the urban layers surrounding Read More