© Richard Randall

Caribbean

Sundries

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.

Oceania

Vienna is famous for its many parks. Many of these parks include monuments, such as the Stadtpark and Belvedere Park with its baroque-style castle where the State Treaty was signed. The principal park of Vienna is the Prater, which is situated on an island formed by the Danube River and the canal. Sch–nbrunn, the beautiful Imperial Summer Palace, includes an 18th century park and the world's oldest zoo (1752).

Vienna's postal codes can be determined by the district where a given address is located; 1XXA - 1 denotes Vienna, XX the district number (if it is a single digit then with a leading zero), A is the number of the post office (irrelevant in this case, usually zero). Example: 1070 for Neubau. Exceptions of that are 1300 for the Vienna International Airport located in Lower Austria near Schwechat, 1400 for the UN Complex, 1450 for the Austria Center, and 1500 for the Austrian UN-Forces.

Religions

Vienna is the seat of the Viennese Roman Catholic archdiocese, and its acting Archbishop is Cardinal Christoph Sch–nborn. The religions of the Viennese resident population is divided according to the 2001 census as follows:

Roman Catholic 49.2%

No religion 25.6%

Muslim 7.8%

Orthodox 6.0%

Protestant (mostly Lutheran) 4.7%

Jewish 0.4%

Other or none indicated 6.3%

Culture

Art and culture have a long tradition in Vienna, in the areas of theatre, opera, classical music and fine arts. Apart from the Burgtheater which, together with its branch, the Akademietheater, is considered one of the best theatres in the German-speaking world, the Volkstheater Wien and the Theater in der Josefstadt also offer high-quality theatre entertainment. There is also a multitude of smaller theatres, often equal in quality to their larger counterparts and in many cases devoted to less mainstream forms of performing arts such as modern, experimental plays or cabaret.

Vienna also offers a great many opportunities for opera lovers: The Staatsoper and the Volksoper offer something for everyone, the latter being especially devoted to the typical Viennese operetta. Concerts of classical music are performed, among others, in the well known Wiener Musikverein, home of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, and in the Wiener Konzerthaus. In addition, various concert venues offer concerts aimed at visitors, featuring the best known highlights of Viennese music (particularly the works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Johann Strauss).

In recent years, the Theater an der Wien has become widely known for hosting premieres of musicals, although it has recently devoted itself to the opera again. The most successful by far was "Elisabeth" which was afterwards translated into several foreign languages and performed all over the world. With the opening of the Haus der Musik in 2000, Vienna also has a "Museum of Sound" for all ages now.

Finally, many Roman Catholic churches in central Vienna feature performances of religious or other music, including masses sung with classical music and organ.

Museums

In the Hofburg, the Schatzkammer (treasury) holds the imperial jewels. The Sisi Museum allows visitors to see the Imperial apartments as well as the silver cabinet. Directly opposite the Hofburg is the Kunsthistorisches Museum (opposite the Natural History Museum) that houses multiple paintings by the old masters.

The group is completed by the Museumsquartier, the former Imperial Stalls which were converted into a complex of museums in the 1990s. This houses the Museum of Modern Art (Ludwig Foundation), the Leopold Museum (which primarily displays works of the Viennese Secession, Viennese Modernism and Austrian Expressionism), and additional halls with changing exhibitions as well as the Tanzquartier. The Liechtenstein Palace presents one of the world's largest private art collections. Additionally there are a multitude of other museums, from the Military History Museum to the Technical Museum, from the Vienna Clock Museum to the Burial Museum. The museums of Vienna's districts are not to be missed as they offer a view into the history of their respective Bezirke.

Architecture

There are buildings of all architectural styles in Vienna, from the Romanesque Ruprechtskirche to the Baroque Karlskirche, and classicist buildings all the way through to modern architecture. Likewise, Art Nouveau left many architectural traces in Vienna. The Secession, Karlsplatz Metropolitan Railway Station, and the Kirche am Steinhof by Otto Wagner rank among the best known examples of Art Nouveau in the world.

Other culture

Between Michaelerplatz and Josefsplatz is the Spanish Riding School. It is a famous equestrian school.