30 Amazing Vienna Curiosities | With Images

Vienna, the city of music, is the capital and largest city of Austria . From its Opera House we have seen the famous New Year's Concert re-broadcast year after year and with that melody you have dreamed of going through its lavish streets, visiting its palaces and having a sacher cake at the Hotel Sacher that saw it born. Join us to know 30 Amazing Vienna Curiosities That sure will encourage you to know this city.

Before you start with these curiosities of Vienna , let's see some general information about it. It has 1.8 million inhabitants, although its metropolitan area exceeds 2.4 million. It is located in the alpine foothills, on the banks of the Danube, in the Valley of the Woods of Vienna. At Hofburg Imperial Palace , in the center of the city, resides the President of the Republic of Austria.

30 Amazing Vienna Curiosities

1. The Roman name of the city was Vindobona, a name that came from the Celtic and meant "white city" or "bright city". The Austrian name of the city is Wien.

2. One of the curiosities of Vienna is that it is considered a "museum city". For this reason and due to its magnificent architectural monuments, in 2001 the old center of the city was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

3. The longest street in Vienna measures 14'97 km., Is the Höhenstraße, and the shortest 17'5 m. and it's called Irisgasse.

4. Until 1938, the streets of Vienna were circulating on the left. From that year the sense of circulation was modified and became the right. There are currently 1,280 traffic lights that regulate 2,763 km. of roads.

5. One of the curiosities of Vienna more fun are the signs that were adopted for some traffic lights after the Eurovision Festival of 2015. They present figures by couples of lovers, including some of the same sex. When the light turns green, a heart shines in the couple. They represent tolerance and openness to the world of the city.

6. One of the jewels of the city is the Cathedral of San Esteban. It was built more than 700 years ago. Almost 3 million people visit it every year. Haydn and Mozart played in this fantastic church.

7. If you want to listen to Mozart's "Requiem" as you've never heard it, you can do it in the Cathedral of San Esteban since a clear and distinctive sound is achieved using 5 organs simultaneously.

8. Mozart lived long periods in Vienna in a dozen residences, but at present there is only one of the floors in which he lived. It is an apartment at number 5 Domgasse Street where he wrote the famous opera "Las Bodas de Figaro". He lived there between 17784 and 1787 and is now a museum dedicated to the musician.

9. During the time of the Austrian monarchy, it was forbidden to build any building taller than the cathedral. Tradition has it that when the town hall was built, its tower was a little lower than those of San Esteban, but the architect placed a character like a weather vane on top of the tower and won the Cathedral by 4'3 meters !

10. The capital of Austria is an international city. According to the 2017 census, people of 182 different nationalities lived in the city.

11. Some of the names given to newborns in the city of Vienna are for the girls Emma, ​​Anna and Sophie and for the boys David, Maximilian and Alexander.

12. Many congresses are held in Vienna. Currently around 186 international congresses are held annually, being the second city with the largest number just behind Paris.

13. In Vienna there are 981 playgrounds and 953 urban parks.

14. The most famous park in Vienna is the Prater. Its official name is Wiener Prater and the name derives from the Latin word "pratum" meaning meadow. Its most important avenue is the Hauptallee and its sides are lined with hundreds of chestnuts. The Vienna Marathon is held annually.

15. Another of the curiosities of Vienna It is related to the Prater. In one corner of the park there is a famous amusement park: the Wurstelprater. In it you can get on the Wiener Riesenrad, the oldest giant ferris wheel in the world. It was built in 1897 to commemorate 50 years on the throne of Emperor Francisco José. It has a height of 65 meters and its cabins offer wonderful views of the city.

16. In this park you can also get on the second highest swing (flying chairs or windlass) in the world. It is the Kettenkarussel and it measures 117 meters. It is not suitable for people with vertigo!

17. Viennese cakes and sweets are famous all over the world. One of its specialties is the Neapolitan wafer biscuits of the Manner company that are exported all over the world and were baked for the first time in 1898. They are crispy wafers filled with hazelnut cream that have been produced since then according to the original recipe. Every year more than 630 million portions of Manner are consumed in the world.

18. Another of the curiosities of Vienna is that in this city the "croissant" was invented. It was a Viennese baker in 1638 who first baked it and was taken to France by Marie Antoinette, who was Austrian.

19. The Sacher cake for the Viennese "Sachertorte" had its origin in the Viennese hotel establishment of the same name. At the Sacher Hotel café you can also taste 20 different coffee varieties from the popular cake.

20. Following the culinary specialties of Vienna, we can not fail to mention the "Schnitzel". This empanada meat is what in Castilian we know as "escalope vienesa". The Viennese say that the authentic one is veal, although it can also be pork or turkey.

21. To end the curiosities of Vienna related to food, we will add that the popular PEZ candies are native to this city. They were invented in 1927 as an alternative to tobacco since in many places smoking was prohibited. Its name comes from the German word Pfefferminz since the first candies had a mint flavor.

22. Vienna is the longest residential building in the world. It measures 1,100 meters and was built between 1927 and 1933. It is known as the Karl-Marx-Hof and is in the 19th district. In front of the building there are ... 4 tram stops!

23. The Vienna zoo , the Tiergarten Schönbrunn, is the oldest in the world. It was founded in 1752 and in 1996 it was elected a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. It is also one of the best in Europe and one of the few in which you can see giant pandas.

24. In addition to the oldest zoo, in Vienna you can also read the oldest newspaper in the world that is still published. It is the "Wiener Zeitung" and it works since 1703.

25. If you go to Vienna after Christmas, you will find a fantastic skating rink in the square in front of the Town Hall. It's the "Viener Eistraum" and it's on the Rathausplatz from January to March.

26. The one that is believed to be the largest cemetery in Europe is in Vienna. It is the Zentralfriedhof and contains about 3 million tombs. In him they are buried many famous composers like Brahms, Beethoven, Gluck, Strauss or Schubert among others.

27. One of the most visited monuments in Vienna is the Palace of Schönbrunn . It has a total of 1441 rooms and wonderful gardens. It is known as the Viennese Versailles and has seen almost 300 years of Austrian history go by.

28. Another important palace is that of Belvedere. It has several art collections, but the most visited is on the upper floor that houses the Austrian gallery of the 19th and 20th centuries, which, among others, shows the well-known work of Gustav Klimt " The kiss "

29. Besides the " Museum Quarter "That has more than 70 cultural facilities to visit, you can see the" Spanish Riding School ". It has been practicing and teaching classical equestrianism for 400 years according to the Renaissance tradition of the Haute Ecole and which has been declared an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

30. To finish these curiosities of Vienna we invite you to read the post: The extraordinary origin of the popular Snowballs . The first ones that were sold were created in the Austrian capital in 1900, by Erwin Perzy, when he was trying to improve the brightness of a surgical lamp.

Other Curiosities of Cities

And if you love to travel and know the secrets of the different countries and their urban centers, you can discover with us curiosities of Europe , from the most surprising data from other wonderful cities that you will surely be interested in such as:

Images: Bwag , Stefan Scheer ,