Vienna
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This article is about the capital of
Austria. For other uses, see Vienna (disambiguation).
Vienna
Wien
Vienna is located in
Austria
Vienna
Location of Vienna in Austria
Coordinates: 48°12′32″
N 16°22′21″E
Country Austria Austria
State Wien
Area
•
City 414.65 km2 (160.10 sq mi)
•
Land 395.26 km2 (
152.61 sq mi)
•
Water 19.39 km2 (7.49 sq mi)
Elevation 151 (
Lobau) -- 542 (Hermannskogel) m (495--1,778 ft)
Population (
2011)
• City 1,731,236 Increase
•
Density 4,002.2/km2 (10,366/sq mi)
•
Urban 1,983,836
•
Metro ca. 2,419,
000
•
Ethnicity[
1] [2] 61.2%
Austrian
38.8% Other
Statistik Austria,[3] VCÖ -- Mobilität mit Zukunft[4]
Time zone
CET (
UTC+1)
•
Summer (
DST)
CEST (
UTC+2)
Website www.wien.gv.at
UNESCO World Heritage Site Historic Centre of Vienna
Name as inscribed on the
World Heritage List
Country Austria
Type Cultural
Criteria ii, iv, vi
Reference 1033
UNESCO region
Europe and
North America
Inscription history
Inscription
2001 (
25th Session)
Vienna (/viːˈɛnə/;
German: About this sound Wien (help·info) [viːn], Austro-Bavarian: Wean) is the capital and the largest city of Austria, and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.731 million[5] (
2.4 million within the metropolitan area, more than 25% of Austria's population), and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre. It is the 9th-largest city by population 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. Vienna is host to many major international organizations, including the
United Nations and
OPEC. The city lies in the east of Austria and is close to the borders of the
Czech Republic,
Slovakia, and
Hungary. These regions work together in a
European Centrope border region. Along with nearby Bratislava, Vienna forms a metropolitan region with 3 million inhabitants. In 2001, the city centre was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Apart from being regarded as the
City of Music because of its musical legacy, Vienna is also said to be "
The City of
Dreams" because it was home to the world's first psycho-analyst -
Sigmund Freud. The city's roots lie in early
Celtic and
Roman settlements that transformed into a
Medieval and
Baroque city, the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It is well known for playing an essential role as a leading European
Music Centre, from the great age of Viennese
Classicism through the early part of the 20th century. The Historic centre of Vienna is rich in architectural ensembles, including Baroque castles and gardens, as well as the late-19th-century
Ringstrasse lined with grand buildings, monuments and parks.
In a
2005 study of
127 world cities, the
Economist Intelligence Unit ranked the city first (in a tie with
Vancouver, Canada) for the world's most livable cities (in the
2012 survey of
140 cities Vienna was ranked number two, behind
Melbourne). For three consecutive years (2009--2011), the human-resource-consulting firm
Mercer ranked Vienna first in its annual "
Quality of
Living" survey of hundreds of cities around the world. Monocle's 2012 "
Quality of Life Survey" ranked Vienna fourth on a list of the top 25 cities in the world "to make a base within" (up from sixth in 2011 and eighth in
2010).
The city was ranked 1st globally for its culture of innovation in
2007 and 2008, and 2nd globally (out of 256 cities) after
Boston in the 2009
Innovation Cities Index, which analyzed 162 indicators in covering 3 areas: culture, infrastructure and markets.[Vienna regularly hosts urban planning conferences and is often used as a case study by urban planners.
Each year since 2005, Vienna has been the world's number one destination for international congresses and conventions. Vienna attracts about five million tourists a year.
- published: 29 Nov 2012
- views: 263