Vienna is a city of music, cafes, waltzes, parks, pastries, and wine, a true cosmopolitan center, where different tribes and nationalities have, for centuries, fused their cultural identities to produce the intriguing and, often cynical, Viennese.
From the time the Romans selected a Celtic settlement on the Danube River as one of their most important central European forts, "Vindobona," the city we now know as Vienna, has played a vital role in European history. Austria grew around the city and developed into a mighty empire. The capital became a showplace during the tumultuous reign of the Habsburg dynasty, whose court was a dazzling spectacle.
The face of the city has changed time and again because of war, siege, victory, defeat, the death of an empire and the birth of a republic, foreign occupation, and the passage of time. Fortunately, the Viennese character -- a strict devotion to the good life -- has remained solid.
Music, art, literature, theater, architecture, education, food, and drink are all part of Vienna's allure, all of which we bring you in the pages that follow.
