57 Facts About Vienna

Until the beginning of the 20th century, Vienna was the largest German-speaking city in the world, and before the splitting of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in World War I, the city had two million inhabitants.

Vienna is host to many major international organizations, including the United Nations, OPEC and the OSCE.

Additionally, Vienna is known as the "City of Music" due to its musical legacy, as many famous classical musicians such as Beethoven and Mozart called Vienna home.

Vienna is said to be the "City of Dreams" because it was home to the world's first psychoanalyst, Sigmund Freud.

The historic center of Vienna is rich in architectural ensembles, including Baroque palaces and gardens, and the late-19th-century Ringstraße lined with grand buildings, monuments and parks.

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Between 2005 and 2010, Vienna was the world's number-one destination for international congresses and conventions.

The Great Plague of Vienna ravaged the city in 1679, killing nearly a third of its population.

In 1804, during the Napoleonic Wars, Vienna became the capital of the newly formed Austrian Empire.

In 1918, after World War I, Vienna became capital of the Republic of German-Austria, and then in 1919 of the First Republic of Austria.

Between 1938 and the end of the Second World War in 1945, Vienna lost its status as a capital to Berlin, because Austria ceased to exist and became part of Nazi Germany.

Vienna was the center of the important resistance group around Heinrich Maier, which provided the Allies with plans for V-1, V-2 rockets, Peenemunde, Tiger tanks, Messerschmitt Bf 109, Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet and other aircraft.

The four-power occupation of Vienna differed in one key respect from that of Berlin: the central area of the city, known as the first district, constituted an international zone in which the four powers alternated control on a monthly basis.

Atmosphere of four-power Vienna is the background for Graham Greene's screenplay for the film The Third Man.

Four-power control of Vienna lasted until the Austrian State Treaty was signed in May 1955.

Vienna has regained much of its former international stature by hosting international organizations, such as the United Nations, the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

In 1910, Vienna had more than two million inhabitants, and was the third largest city in Europe after London and Paris.

Around the start of the 20th century, Vienna was the city with the second-largest Czech population in the world.

The population of Vienna generally stagnated or declined through the remainder of the 20th century, not demonstrating significant growth again until the census of 2000.

In 2020, Vienna's population remained significantly below its reported peak in 1916.

Vienna is the seat of the Metropolitan Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vienna, in which is vested the exempt Ordinariate for Byzantine-rite Catholics in Austria; its Archbishop is Cardinal Christoph Schonborn.

Vienna is located in northeastern Austria, at the easternmost extension of the Alps in the Vienna Basin.

Vienna was moved to the UNESCO world heritage in endangered list in 2017.

Citizens of Vienna opposed the construction of the complex because they are afraid of losing UNESCO status and of encouraging future high-rise development.

Vienna is today considered the center of the Social Democratic Party.

Vienna is one of the wealthiest regions in the European Union: Its gross regional product of EUR 47, 200 per capita constituted 25.

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Since the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989, Vienna has expanded its position as gateway to Eastern Europe: 300 international companies have their Eastern European headquarters in Vienna and its environs.

Companies in Vienna have extensive contacts and competences in business with Eastern Europe due to the city's historical role as center of the Habsburg Empire.

The number of international businesses in Vienna is still growing: In 2014 159 and in 2015 175 international firms established offices in Vienna.

Vienna is home to global players like Boehringer Ingelheim, Octapharma, Ottobock and Takeda.

However, there is a growing number of start-up companies in the life sciences and Vienna was ranked first in the 2019 PeoplePerHour Startup Cities Index.

The city's largest conference center, the Austria Center Vienna has a total capacity for around 22, 800 people and is situated next to the United Nations Headquarters in Vienna.

Vienna was ranked top in the 2019 Quality of Living Ranking by the international Mercer Consulting Group for the tenth consecutive year.

Additionally, Vienna aims to be one of the five biggest European research and innovation hubs in 2050.

Art and culture had a long tradition in Vienna, including theater, opera, classical music and fine arts.

Vienna is home to a number of opera houses, including the Theater an der Wien, the Staatsoper and the Volksoper, the latter being devoted to the typical Viennese operetta.

Vienna's English Theatre is an English theater in Vienna.

In May 2015, Vienna hosted the Eurovision Song Contest following Austria's victory in the 2014 contest.

Notable musicians born in Vienna include Louie Austen, Alban Berg, Falco, Fritz Kreisler, Joseph Lanner, Arnold Schonberg, Franz Schubert, Johann Strauss I, Johann Strauss II, Anton Webern, and Joe Zawinul.

Notable writers from Vienna include Karl Leopold von Moller, Carl Julius Haidvogel, and Stefan Zweig.

Writers who lived and worked in Vienna include Franz Kafka, Arthur Schnitzler, Elias Canetti, Ingeborg Bachmann, Robert Musil, Karl Kraus, Ernst von Feuchtersleben, Thomas Bernhard and Elfriede Jelinek.

In recent years, Vienna has seen numerous architecture projects completed which combine modern architectural elements with old buildings, such as the remodeling and revitalization of the old Gasometer in 2001.

Vienna is part of the Austro-Bavarian language area, in particular Central Bavarian.

Vienna is Austria's main center of education and home to many universities, professional colleges and gymnasiums.

Vienna possesses many parks, including the Stadtpark, the Burggarten, the Volksgarten, the Schlosspark at Schloss Belvedere (home to the Vienna Botanic Gardens), the Donaupark, the Schonbrunner 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 Turkenschanzpark.

Many of Vienna's 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.

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The Donauinsel, part of Vienna's flood defenses, is a 21.

Vienna was where the European Handball Federation was founded.

Vienna is well known for Wiener Schnitzel, a cutlet of veal or pork (Schweinsschnitzel) that is pounded flat, coated in flour, egg and breadcrumbs, and fried in clarified butter.

Vienna has a long tradition of producing cakes and desserts.

Vienna ranked 10th in vegan friendly European cities in a study by Alternative Traveler.

Vienna has a single large brewery, Ottakringer, and more than ten microbreweries.

Vienna has an extensive transportation network with a unified fare system that integrates municipal, regional and railway systems under the umbrella of the Verkehrsverbund Ost-Region.

Vienna is the world's third "UN city", next to New York, Geneva, and Nairobi.

Additionally, Vienna is the seat of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law's secretariat.

Vienna hosted the negotiations leading to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on Iran's nuclear program as well as the Vienna peace talks for Syria.

General policy of the City of Vienna is not to sign any twin or sister city agreements with other cities.

Instead Vienna has only cooperation agreements in which specific cooperation areas are defined.