Photo Homage to the Capital of Austria by Eric Berger Photographer
- Vienna was for centuries Imperial capital and residence of the Habsburgs, and thus as the capital of the Holy Roman Empire, the Empire of Austria and as one of the two capitals of Austro-Hungarian Empire a cultural and political centre of Europe. As the fifth largest city in the world after London, New York, Paris and Chicago, Vienna was around the year 1910 over two million inhabitants. After the end of the first world war, Vienna lost about a quarter of its inhabitants.
The old town of Vienna, which is dominated by the Habsburg reign, as well as the Palace of Schönbrunn were recognized by UNESCO as a world heritage site. St. Stephen's Cathedral, next to the Ferris wheel in the Prater amusement park and other tourist attractions a landmark of Vienna, overlooked as one of the highest buildings in the city and as a church downtown. #150JahreRingstrassen
Albertina
The ALBERTINA museum numbers among Austria’s leading art museums and is open to the public 365 days a year. It is our desire and aim to be current, relevant, and attractive to the public in all of our endeavors. Our work is oriented toward our visitors’ needs and expectations, their previous personal experiences, and their sensory and intellectual experience of art.
- Vienna is a city with very high quality of life. The international Mercer study 2015, compared quality of life based on 39 criteria such as political, economic, social and environmental factors in 230 cities worldwide where, Vienna ranked the first for the seventh time in a row. A study by the United Nations saw Vienna 2012 as the wealthiest city in the world.
Vienna Opera House
Guided Tours
Take a glimpse behind the scenes of the world’s largest repertoire theatre and discover many things that remain hidden from the evening audience. On this approximately 40-minute tour, you will hear many interesting facts about the building’s history, its architecture and how an opera house is run. From the foyer, we take the grand staircase to the state rooms (Tea Salon, Marble Hall, Schwind Foyer, Gustav Mahler Hall) before we reach the auditorium (catching a look at the stage).
Our guided visits are offered in German, English and Spanish at all indicated times. For tours in Italian, French, Russian and Japanese, please enquire by calling +43-1- 51444-2606, 2613 or 2614, or send an e-mail to tours(at)wiener-staatsoper.at.
Stephans Dom
St. Stephen'S Cathedral on Vienna's St. Stephen's Square has been Cathedral church since 1365, the Cathedral since 1469/1479 And since 1723 the Metropolitan Church of the Archbishop of Vienna. The Roman Catholic Cathedral, also briefly called Steffl by the Viennese, is considered a Landmark Of Vienna and is often referred to as an Austrian National Sanctuary.
Austrian Magazine of Photography
Heldenplatz und Nationalbibliothek und Weltmuseum
Modern knowledge center
The Library at Heldenplatz is the central service facility of the Austrian National Library. With seven reading rooms and over 400 individual places to read in a stimulating atmosphere, it provides the perfect place for students, researchers and interested individuals.
Here you can find printed material published from 1851. Furthermore, by buying a day ticket or annual membership card, you have complete access to our wide range of library services, to the Internet and to subscribed databases, as well as electronic magazines.
Whether researching for a hobby or scientific work, enjoy exclusive access to hundreds of years of knowledge in addition to a comprehensive range of modern-day literature. Our librarians will be happy to advise and provide support with scientific » research.
Discover Stories like a Chain of Pearls!
As the very heart of the new Museum, the permanent exhibition has been redesigned from the ground up. Strung together like a chain of pearls, the series of stories told in the fourteen galleries feature the core of the permanent exhibition combined with contemporary interpretations. We would like to give you the opportunity to explore these galleries and get a first glimpse of what is to come at the new Weltmuseum Wien.
SUMMER PHOTO FESTIVAL Wien
Summer Photo Festival Vienna by LIK Academy Photo and Design
ONE English Class PHOTOGRAPHY
Kunsthistorisches und Naturhistorisches Museum
Inside KHM
The Building
Planning of the Ringstrasse began in 1857 and included the project to bring together and show the imperial collections in a grand new building featuring state-of-the-art technical and display facilities; it took, however, another ten years until the competition to design the new museums was actually held. The architects who participated in 1867 were Hansen, Löhr, Ferstel and Hasenauer, all of whom worked in Vienna. When jury and patron failed for months to agree on a winner, Gottfried Semper, the internationally-renowned architect known for his museum designs, was called in as an advisor in 1868. The Emperor then decided to commission Semper to alter and complete the plans initially presented by Hasenauer. But he also enlarged them – his designs were informed by urban planning in ancient Rome – to create what was known as the “imperial forum”: He envisaged an additional – also symmetrical - pair of buildings aligned with the two museums, each of which featured a semi-circular façade. These two buildings were to flank the Hofburg’s Leopoltinische Trakt (the wing of the old palace erected under Emperor Leopold) for which Semper planned a modern façade and that would house the throne room. However, only the two museums and the part of the “Neue Burg” (new palace) facing the Burggarten (palace garden) were realised. Work on the museums commenced in 1871 and twenty years later, in 1891, they were formally opened to the public. Semper had moderated Hasenauer’s original design for the façades and they now feature a complex art-historical programme of sculptures and reliefs. The building’s internal structure combines two architectural traditions: entrance hall, staircase and cupola hall form a dramatic unit that celebrates the imperial patron and his predecessors. An additional elegant feature is the circular opening in the ceiling of the entrance hall that offers visitors their first glimpse of the cupola hall. Ascending the stairs, visitors pass Antonio Canova’s “Theseus Slaying the Centaur” on their way to the cupola hall, the apex of imperial display. Along this central axis a wealth of neo-baroque decorations create one of the most solemn and splendid interiors of late-nineteenth-century Vienna, probably unrivalled in any other European museum.
Fiaker - The Horse Coaches
Through Vienna in a horse-drawn carriage
They are just as much a part of Vienna as St. Stephen’s Cathedral and the Giant Ferris Wheel: the fiakers. For many tourists, a ride with the two-horse carriage is one of the highlights. There is almost no cozier way to explore Vienna’s attractions.
The term "fiaker" originates from the French and refers to the hackney carriage stand in the Parisian Rue de Saint Fiacre. In 1720, the carriages - which had previously been referred to as "Janschky" coaches in Vienna - were renamed "fiakers" (and numbered).
Then the carriage trade really began to boom: more than 1,000 fiakers were on the road in Vienna between 1860 and 1900. The carriage drivers were often characters that were known throughout the city and also sometimes performed as singers. They were appreciated for their discretion, especially when one or the other fine gentleman was amusing himself in the fiaker with his paramour. Probably most famous among them was Josef Bratfisch, the royal coachman of Crown Prince Rudolf, who brought the prince's lover Mary Vetsera to Mayerling in 1889, where both lives found a tragic end.
Vienna Town Hall
Friedrich von Schmidt, who had been the architect of the Cathedral of Cologne, designed and built Vienna's City Hall, the most important secular building in the neo-Gothic style in the city, between 1872 and 1883.
The height of the tower is 97.9 m, plus the so-called "Iron Rathausmann", who measures 3.4 m (6 m including the standard) and has become a symbol of Vienna. Shoe size: 63. Vienna City Hall is the official seat of the Mayor and the meeting place of the city senate/provincial government and the Municipal Council/Landtag.
City Hall was built between 1872 and 1883 and is a building of superlatives: Around 30 million bricks and more than 40,000 cubic meters of natural stone were used. The Arkadenhof of City Hall is one of the biggest inner courtyards in Europe with an area of 2,804 m². The Festival Hall is 71 meters long, 20 meters wide and 18.5 meters high. If the fire authorities were to allow it, 1,500 couples could dance the waltz here at the same time.
Numerous events are held inside and in front of City Hall. One of the most important and best known is without doubt the Life Ball, which is held every year in May. Numerous other balls are also organized in this wonderful building each year. Starting in November, the Christmas Market in front of City Hall creates the right atmosphere in the run-up to Christmas. And from January to March, City Hall Square and City Hall Park transform into the most beautiful skating rink in the world.
City Hall is also home to the Vienna City and Regional Library (with its extensive collection of Viennensia) and the Vienna City and Regional Archive.
Tours are held for individuals on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 1.00 pm. No registration required. No guided tours are offered on session days, gazetted public holidays, Good Friday, 24 and 31 December as well as during major events. Free audio guides are available in English, French, Italian and Spanish when a valid form of ID is left as security.
The Giant Ferries Wheel
An amusement park for many, place of nostalgic dreams for some, oasis of greenery for almost everyone – and the location of the Giant Ferris Wheel, one of Vienna’s most famous symbols. The Vienna Prater is in season from March to October. But the world-famous Giant Ferris Wheel and a few other attractions are open all year round.
The Prater: A playground for everyone
What would Vienna be without its Prater and what would the Prater be without its Giant Ferris Wheel? Probably like a visit to Vienna without a ride on the Giant Ferris Wheel: Half as nice as it could be.
Vienna’s famous Volksprater lies in the heart of the city in the district of Leopoldstadt and offers visitors the Giant Ferris Wheel erected in 1827 as well as many attractions such as carousels, halls of mirrors and laughter, ghost trains and rollercoasters, or the little Liliputbahn, on which visitors can enjoy a tour of the amusement park.
The Wurstelprater – as the park is still lovingly referred to by the Viennese – also has something to offer on the culinary front. A must for culinary globetrotters: The famous Vienna Schweinstelze (knuckle of pork) and the Lángos - a leavened dough specialty of Hungarian cuisine, which is brushed with lots of garlic water and eaten on the go.
Far away from it all in the middle of Vienna in the Prater
Of course, the Prater is not just a pleasure park. The Prater also includes the adjacent Stadtpark, considered one of the most beautiful in the world. Here, in the middle of nature in the heart of Vienna, visitors find themselves far from the hustle and bustle of the city. The landscape of water meadows was once a popular hunting ground of the Habsburgs. Today, visitors stroll along the Hauptallee, the main avenue that runs from the Praterstern to the Lusthaus beneath groups of poplars past meadows and dense undergrowth.
One of the biggest attractions in this part of the Prater is the chestnut blossom. While the trees flower in delicate shades of pink in May, the Hauptallee is filled with walkers and cyclists as well as joggers and riders, the children romp around on the playground and youngsters meet on the BMX and skating track or throw themselves into the sand on the beach volleyball courts.
In winter, the Jesuitenwiese meadow in Vienna’s Prater becomes a big playground. A snow-making machine provides enough of the white stuff for a proper snowball fight. In addition to cross-country trails, there is also a tobogganing hill, which was created from the ruins of houses bombed during the Second World War.
Die Ringstrasse mit Opernhaus
Parlament
The Parliament building on Vienna's Ringstrasse boulevard is one of the most important buildings of the Historicism period. Theophil Hansen designed it in the style of ancient Greece. Palais Epstein next door is one of the most important palaces on the Ringstrasse boulevard.
The building took ten years to build and Parliament was opened in 1883. Theophil Hansen chose the Greek classical style for the building because the Hellenes were the first people to love freedom and legality above everything else. The deputies of the "kingdoms and countries represented in the Reichsrat", the Austrian half of the double monarch of Austria-Hungary, which extended from Galicia (present-day Poland and Ukraine) to Dalmatia (the present-day Adriatic coast of Croatia), assembled here until 1918. Materials from all crown lands were used in its construction. The Pallas Athene fountain in front of the main entrance to Parliament is intended to embody state wisdom.
Nowadays, the National Assembly and Federal Assembly convene in Parliament. Apart from the Hall of Columns, a special highlight is the historic chamber, which is based on an ancient theater and used for special occasions only. The surface area of this mighty building is almost 14,000 m². There are 1,600 rooms with 920 windows. The daily electricity consumption is approximately equivalent to the annual need of four single-family homes.
All Pictures Copyright by Eric Berger
Alle Fotos aufgenommen mit Leica M Monochrom und M240
Eric Berger ist Lehrgangsleiter der LIK Akademie für Foto und Design
LIK FOTOFESTIVAL WIEN - PHOTOVIENNA
Credits:
Copyright by Eric Berger www.ericberger.at