Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
City Hall Open-Air Classical-Music Cinema and Food Circus
A thriving people scene erupts each evening in summer (July-Aug) at the park in front of
CityHall(Rathaus,ontheRingstrasse).Thousandsofpeoplekeepafoodcircusof24simple
stalls busy. There's not a plastic cup anywhere, just real plates and glasses—Vienna wants
the quality of eating to be as high as the music that's about to begin. About 2,000 folding
chairs face a 60-foot-wide screen up against the City Hall's Neo-Gothic facade. When dark-
ness falls, an announcer explains the program, and then the music starts. The program is dif-
ferent every night—mostly movies of opera and classical concerts, with some films. The TI
has the schedule (programs generally last about 2 hours, starting when it's dark—between
21:30 in July and 20:30 in Aug).
Since 1991, the city has paid for 60 of these summer event nights each year. Why? To
promote culture. Officials know that the City Hall Music Festival is mostly a “meat market”
where young people come to hook up. But they believe many of these people will develop a
little appreciation of classical music and high culture on the side.
English Cinema
Several great theaters offer three or four screens of English movies nightly (€6-9):
Burg
Kino,
a block from the Opera, facing the Ring (see below), tapes its weekly schedule to
the door—box office opens 30 minutes before each showing;
English Cinema Haydn,
near
my recommended hotels on Mariahilfer Strasse (Mariahilfer Strasse 57, tel. 01/587-2262,
www.haydnkino.at
)
; and
Artis International Cinema,
right in the town center a few
minutes from the cathedral (Schultergasse 5, tel. 01/535-6570).
The Third Man
at Burg Kino
This movie is set in 1949 Vienna—when it was divided, like Berlin, between the four vic-
torious Allies. Reliving the cinematic tale of a divided city about to fall under Soviet rule
and rife with smuggling is an enjoyable two-hour experience while in Vienna (€8, in Eng-
lish; 3-4 showings weekly—usually Friday evening, Sunday afternoon, and Tuesday early
evening; Opernring 19, tel. 01/587-8406,
www.burgkino.at
).
Fans of the movie will enjoy a visit to the
Third Man Museum
(Dritte Mann Museum),
the life's work of two enthusiasts who have lovingly collected a vast collection of artifacts
about the film, postwar Vienna, and the movie's popularity around the world (€7.50, Sat
only 14:00-18:00, or by appointment for
Third Man
nuts, private showings for groups,
U4: Kettenbrückengasse, a long block south of the Naschmarkt at Pressgasse 25, tel. 01/
586-4872,
www.3mpc.net
)
.
