50 Fun Facts About Vienna

What did the Romans call their camp on the site of Vienna?

Marcus Aurelius may have died there in AD 180; the German name Wien comes instead from the small River Wien.

Vienna is the most populous city on which river?

The artificial Donauinsel doubles as flood defence and party venue.

Vienna became the seat of which dynasty in 1155, before the Habsburgs?

Duke Henry II moved his residence from Klosterneuburg; the Babenbergs ruled Austria from 976 to 1246.

Which Ottoman sultan led the first siege of Vienna in 1529?

He brought over 100,000 men against no more than 21,000 defenders under Niklas Graf Salm, and still failed.

Which king commanded the relief army that broke the Ottoman siege at the Battle of Vienna in 1683?

The battle was fought on Kahlenberg mountain on 12 September after two months of siege.

Who chaired the Congress of Vienna of 1814-15?

The congress redrew Europe after Napoleon and tried to snuff out liberal and revolutionary movements.

Vienna's grand Ringstrasse boulevard was built in the 19th century on the site of what?

The State Opera, Burgtheater, Parliament and Votivkirche all line it.

Which city overtook Vienna as the world's largest German-speaking city around 1900?

It peaked at two million; the population still has not regained its 1916 high.

Around 1900, Vienna had the world's second-largest population of which nationality, after Prague?

Many went home after 1918, and the city's population declined for much of the century.

The period from 1919 to 1934, when socialists ran the city and built public housing, is known as what?

The Gemeindebauten they built still house a large share of Viennese today.

On which date in 1938 did Hitler arrive in Vienna, three days after German troops entered Austria?

Vienna's Jewish population, once nearly 200,000, was about 5,000 after the war.

After 1945, how did four-power Vienna differ from the other divided German-speaking capital?

The four powers took turns controlling the first district each month and patrolled in jeeps with one soldier from each army.

The four-power occupation of Vienna ended with the Austrian State Treaty of which year?

That same year the State Opera and Burgtheater reopened after wartime destruction.

Which 1949 film noir, written by Graham Greene, uses occupied Vienna as its backdrop?

Anton Karas's zither theme topped charts in 1950, and the Burg Kino still screens the film three times a week.

In The Third Man, Orson Welles's Harry Lime escapes through what?

The wheel scene comes earlier; Lime is finally cornered underground.

How many districts is Vienna divided into?

The district number appears on every street sign and forms the middle digits of the postcode, from 1010 to 1230.

Schonbrunn Palace, Vienna's most visited attraction, has how many rooms?

The imperial summer residence hosted a Cold War summit in 1961 and joined the UNESCO list in 1996.

Schonbrunn Zoo, founded in 1752, holds what distinction?

It is also one of the few zoos to keep giant pandas.

Which two Cold War leaders met at Schonbrunn in 1961?

The palace has been a museum since the republic was restored in 1955.

How tall is St Stephen's Cathedral at its highest point?

Duke Rudolf IV drove the Gothic rebuild; the multicoloured tiled roof collapsed in a fire in 1945 and was restored.

The Hofburg has been the seat of government since 1279 and, since 1946, the residence of whom?

It was the Habsburgs' winter palace; Schonbrunn was for summer.

The Spanish Riding School in the Hofburg trains which breed of horse?

First named in 1565, it is the oldest school of classical dressage in the world; performances are in the Winter Riding School.

The Vienna Boys' Choir traces its origin to a 1498 letter from which emperor?

He ordered court officials to hire a singing master, two basses and six boys; the sailor suits date from the 1920s.

The Wiener Riesenrad, the Prater's giant Ferris wheel, was built in which year?

It was the world's tallest surviving Ferris wheel from 1920 to 1985 and features in The Third Man.

How tall is the Wiener Riesenrad?

The 1893 Chicago wheel and London's Great Wheel were both taller but were demolished within a decade.

The Prater hosted which international event in 1873?

The Ernst-Happel-Stadion, Austria's largest, opened there in 1931.

The Vienna Philharmonic was founded in which year?

Composer Otto Nicolai conducted the first concert on 28 March 1842, and the orchestra still votes democratically on its decisions.

The New Year's Concert traditionally ends with which piece, during which the audience claps along?

The famous waltz about the river is the second encore, its opening interrupted by applause and a New Year greeting from the stage.

The New Year's Concert has been held in the Golden Hall of which building since 1939?

The Musikverein is home to the Vienna Philharmonic; the Konzerthaus houses the Vienna Symphony.

The Vienna State Opera opened in 1869 with which Mozart opera?

An American air raid set the house alight on 12 March 1945; it reopened in 1955.

Which composer was Vienna-born, alongside Schoenberg, Berg, Webern and the two Johann Strausses?

Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, Brahms and Mahler all moved to Vienna from elsewhere.

Beethoven and Schubert are buried in Vienna's Central Cemetery; where were they moved from in 1888?

Brahms, Salieri, Johann Strauss II and Schoenberg lie there too; Mozart is in the now-closed St Marx Cemetery.

Which Viennese pop star's 'Rock Me Amadeus' is the only German-language US Hot 100 No. 1?

It held number one for three weeks in 1986; Falco is buried in the Central Cemetery.

Sigmund Freud lived and worked at which Vienna address from 1891 until he fled in 1938?

The apartment is now the Sigmund Freud Museum; Freud was born in Freiberg, Moravia, not Vienna.

Gustav Klimt's The Kiss hangs in which Vienna museum?

Painted in 1907-08 with gold, silver and platinum leaf, it is the masterpiece of his Golden Period.

Which architect designed Vienna's Secession building, Karlsplatz Stadtbahn station and Postal Savings Bank?

They rank among the world's best-known Art Nouveau buildings; Hundertwasser later built his colourful house to counter modernism.

Which four future dictators and revolutionaries all lived in Vienna in 1913?

Cafe Central claims Hitler, Stalin, Tito, Trotsky and Stefan Zweig; Freud preferred Cafe Landtmann.

A Wiener schnitzel is traditionally made from which meat?

It is pounded flat, breaded and fried in clarified butter; pork and chicken versions must be labelled as such.

Sachertorte pairs chocolate cake and glaze with a layer of which jam?

Hotel Sacher and Demel fought a court battle over the original recipe; Sacher uses two sponge layers, Demel one.

Vienna is unusual among world capitals for having what within its city limits?

The wine is drunk in taverns in Grinzing and Nussdorf, often as a spritzer; Gruner Veltliner is the main grape.

What are the small Viennese wine taverns run by local winemakers called?

The wine is often mixed with sparkling water into a G'spritzter.

How many U-Bahn lines did Vienna have in 2024, before the U5 opened?

U1, U2, U3, U4 and U6; the U5 was still under construction. The tram network dates from 1865.

The Donauinselfest on Vienna's artificial river island claims to be what?

About three million people attend over three days on the 21 km artificial island.

What is the tallest structure in Austria, standing in Vienna's Donaupark?

A 40 m steel cross nearby marks Pope John Paul II's 1983 mass.

In 1980 Vienna became a UN headquarters city alongside which two others?

Nairobi joined later; the Vienna International Centre houses the IAEA and OPEC is also in town.

Founded in 1365 by Duke Rudolph IV, the University of Vienna is the oldest what?

Vienna has the largest student population of any German-speaking city.

The Vienna Opera Ball and other balls run during which season?

Balls open with a Viennese waltz around 10 pm and end near 5 am; debutantes wear white.

The Votivkirche was built in thanks for which emperor surviving an 1853 assassination attempt?

The neo-Gothic church was completed in 1879, while the Baroque Karlskirche on Karlsplatz dates from 1737.

Which nature reserve in western Vienna began as Emperor Ferdinand I's hunting ground in 1561?

Some 19.5 sq km of it is woodland; the Lobau floodplain in the southeast is instead part of the Danube-Auen National Park.

How long is the Donauinsel, the artificial island built between the Danube and New Danube?

Built as flood protection, it now hosts sport and leisure facilities and the three-day Donauinselfest.