Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Vienna Highlights
Scaling
Stephansdom
(
Click here
), Vienna's glorious Gothic cathedral and beloved icon.
Savouring the bombastic pomp of
Schloss Schönbrunn
(
Click here
)
and the views from its gardens.
Hanging out in the
MuseumsQuartier
(
Click here
), an art space spiked with bars and alive with urban energy.
Being provoked by naked bodies smeared with salad (among other modern-art flourishes) at Vienna's
MUMOK
(
Click here
)
.
Slowing down and indulging in cake and coffee at one of Vienna's legendary coffee houses, such as
Café
Sperl
(
Click here
)
.
Immersing yourself a Viennese
Heuriger
(wine tavern), such as
Esterházykeller
(
Click here
), on a ramble.
Spinning around in the giant rectangles dangling off the
Riesenrad
(
Click here
)
, Vienna's oversized Ferris
wheel, in the Prater outdoor area.
History
Vienna was probably an important trading post for the Celts when the Romans arrived
around 15 BC. They set up camp and named the place Vindobona, after the Celtic tribe
Vinid. The settlement blossomed into a town by the 3rd and 4th centuries, and vineyards
were introduced to the surrounding area.
In AD 881 the town, then known as Wenia, surfaced in official documents. Over the en-
suing centuries control of Vienna changed hands a number of times before the city fell un-
der the rule of the Babenburgs. The Habsburgs inherited it, but none of them resided here
permanently until Ferdinand I in 1533; the city was besieged by Ottoman Turks in 1529.
Vienna was a hotbed of revolt and religious bickering during the Reformation and
Counter-Reformation and suffered terribly through plague and siege at the end of the 17th
century. However, the beginning of the 18th century heralded a golden age for the city,
with baroque architecture, civil reform and a classical-music revolution.
Things turned sour at the beginning of the 19th century - Napoleon occupied the city
twice, in 1805 and 1809. His reign over Europe was brief, and in 1814-15 Vienna hosted
the Congress of Vienna in celebration of his defeat. Vienna grew in post- Napoleonic
Europe and in 1873 hosted its second international event, the World Fair. The advent of
WWI stalled the city's architectural and cultural development and, by the end of the war,
the monarchy had been consigned to the past.
