Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 10.djvu/253

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VIENNA 215 VIENNA tive Service" and "A Topo^aphical vided with public parks, the largest be- Atlas of the City of New York." He ing the Prater (7 square miles), one of died in 1902. the finest parks in Europe, opened in VIENNA (German, Wien), the capital l'^'^^. In educational, scientific, artistic, and largest city of the Republic of Aus- ^^^^ benevolent institutions the city is tria; in Lower Austria, on the Danube very rich. The university, founded in 3anal, a branch of the Danube. The l-^oS and renowned throughout the world small river Wien flows through part of ^s a medical school, had a teaching staff the city to join the canal. Vienna con- of 350 and over 6,000 students. The sists of the Inner City and eight dis- magnificGnt public picture gallery, for- tricts or sections completely surrounding pierly m the chateau of Belvedere, now it— viz., Leopoldstadt, Landstrasse, Wie- ^^ the Museum of Art, is specially fa- den, Margarethen, Mariahilf, Neubau, ^^^^ for its unrivalled examples of the Alsergrund, and Favoriten. These, with Venetian school, Rubens and Durer. the exception of the last, an artisans' -^".f'^. ^^'^ ^^^o several noted private quarter, are inclosed by fortifications galleries. known as the Lines, though that name . Vienna was the chief industrial city is now usually confined to the 15 gates m the empire, the factories being mostly of the fortifications. Immediately be- in the districts of Neubau and Mariahilf yond the Lines are nine populous sub- and outside the Lines. Machinery, scien- urbs included (since 1890) within the tific and musical instruments, artistic Vienna police district, which has a total goods in bronze, leather, terra-cotta, area of 51 square miles. The irregular porcelain, etc., bent-wood furniture, hexagon formed by the Inner City was meerschaum pipes, etc., are among the till 1858 inclosed by an inner line of noted manufactures of Vienna. As a fortifications, the site of which is now center of trade and finance Vienna was occupied by the Ringstrasse, a series of no less important. Grain, flour, cattle, handsome boulevards, 55 yards wide, seeds, wines, and manufactured goods which bound five of its sides. The sixth of all kinds were annually handled here side is bounded by the Franz-Josefs to an immense aggi-egate value. Over Quay, on the Danube canal. $12,500,000 were spent in 1868-1881 in Though Vienna contains buildings of regulating the channel of the Danube the 14th and even of the 13th century, so as to render the river naviglable at it is, in its present form, essentially a ^^^ times. modern city; nearly all the most con- Vienna occupies the site of the Roman spicuous and pretentious public buildings Vindomina, which was established in A. D. date from the later half of the 19th 14, as the successor of the Celtic settle- century. The Inner City and the Ring- inent of Vindobona. The beginning of strasse were formerly the handsomest its present importance, however, dates and most fashionable quarters. In the only from the period of the Crusades, former are the cathedral of St. Stephen which directed a steady stream of traffic (1300-1510), with a tower 450 feet in through it. In 1276 it became the capital height; the Hofburg or imperial palace, of the Hapsburg dynasty. The famous a large and irregular pile of very vari- siege of Vienna by the Turks lasted from ous dates; and many palaces of the J"'y 14 to Sept. 12, 1683, when it was nobility. On one side or other of the relieved by John Sobieski of Poland. Ringstrasse rise the Exchange; the Uni- Treaties have been concluded at Vi- versity (1874-1884) ; the huge Gothic enna in 1738, between the Emperor New Rathhaus (1873-1883), built at a Charles VI. and the Infanta of Spain as cost of over $3,750,000; the Parliament to the kingdom of the Two Sicilies; in House; the Supreme Law Courts; the 1809, between Napoleon and the Aus- Imperial Museum of Natural History trians, after the defeat of the latter at and of Art (1872-1886), twin buildings Wagram; in 1864, settling the affairs on either side of the imposing menu- after the war of Prussia and Austria ment of the Empress Maria Theresa against Denmark; and in 1866, between (unveiled 1888) ; the imperial Opera Francis Joseph of Austria and Victor House; the Academy of Art; the Aus- Emmanuel of Italy, ceding Venetia to trian Museum of Art and Industry, etc. Italy. The Great Congress of Vienna In other parts of the city are the Ar- (Nov. 3, 1814, to June 9, 1815) met to senal; the Josephinum, a medical college regulate the affairs of Europe after the founded in 1784; the Votive Church, an overthrow of the Napoleonic empire, and admirable specimen of modern Gothic, restore the "balance of power." Alex- built in 1856-1879 to commemorate the ander I. and Nesselrode were there in emporer's escape from assassination in the interests of Russia; the King of 1853; and many other handsome sacred Prussia was supported by Hardenberg; and secular edifices. Vienna is well pro- Castleri<^Hgh, and afterward Wellington,