Vienna ( German: Wien) is the capital and largest city of Austria, and one of the nine states that form the country. Vienna is Austria’s primary city, with a population of about 1.8 million, and its cultural, economic, and political centre. Many major international organizations, including the United Nations and OPEC have their European headquarters in Vienna.
In 2001, the city centre was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Vienna is also known as the city of music, due to it’s role as a leading European music centre.
Vienna has a high quality of life. Numerous studies set it in first place or in the top for quality of life among hundreds of world cities.
Location
Vienna is located in the eastern part of Austria, Central Europe, close to the borders of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary. The city grew at a meander of the Danube river, now spreading on both it’s sides, with the easternmost end of the Alps meeting the Panonian plain in the city.
History
The surroundings of Vienna have been inhabited since the palaeolithic period (10.000 years ago). Evidence of continuous habitation has been found since 500 BC. In Roman times, a border fort was created with the name of Vindobona, from which the current name of the city derived. The city later evolved into a Medieval and Baroque city, the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Demographics
Vienna is Austria’s largest city, with a population of about 1.8 million (2.6 million within the metropolitan area, nearly one third of Austria’s population). It is the 7th-largest city by population within city limits in the European Union.
Until the beginning of the 20th century it 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 2 million inhabitants. Today it has the second largest number of German speakers after Berlin.
Notable people of Vienna
Throughout it’s history, Vienna has been home to many of the world’s most famous musicians, thinkers and politicians. Here are some of them:
Musicians
Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, Richard Strauss, Johannes Brahms, Gustav Mahler…
Visual artists
Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, Friedensreich Hundertwasser
Politicians
Adolf Hitler, Leo Trotsky, Josip Broz Tito, Joseph Visarionovich Stalin