Globalista

Grand, masculine, imperial – Vienna was once one of the most important cities in the world. Before the sudden end of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918, the city was a powerhouse that ran the central states of Europe. For hundreds of years, merchants and politicians, artists and architects, writers and musicians flocked here. Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert lodged within walking distance of each other. Klimt, Freud and Mahler visited the same cafés. This relatively small city on the edge of the Hungarian plains became one of the wealthiest, most powerful and most beautiful in Europe.

Today it is extraordinary to walk round the centre of Vienna and find so much history and art in such a small place. Even outside the Ringstrasse, the wide boulevard that replaced the 13th-century city walls, the density of historical sites is extraordinary. While Vienna may have a reputation as being one of the most musical cities in the world, that is to ignore its contribution to painting and architecture. And if culture weren’t enough to attract the visitor, the Viennese love of food, wine, beer and coffee will certainly attract gourmet and gourmand alike.

It is also worth remembering that although Vienna remains refreshingly elegant and refined (most shops still shut on a Sunday), it is not in the least bit stuck in the past. A flurry of new hotels and restaurants have opened in recent years and the contemporary art scene is breathing new blood into an already highly sophisticated arts scene. The classic and the contemporary now sit side by side.

Globalista's Pick of the Press

16 May 2009 - The Independent - 48 Hours In: Vienna
21 March 2009 - The Independent - Note Perfect
22 February 2009 - The New York Times - Vienna's Neu-wave Corner
23 September 2008 - The Telegraph - Vienna: My kind of town