Vienna, Austria

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Vienna is a city whose history stretches back over 2,000 years but it wasnt until 1137 that it was officially declared a civitas, which indicates that at this stage it was a well ordered medieval community. In 1155 Duke Henry II, a member of the Babenberg dynasty, established a residence on the site of the square now known as Am Hof. Vienna developed rapidly as a town from this point onwards. The court of the Babenbergs became the centre of a sophisticated culture, influenced by the civilisations of both Byzantium and the Orient.

After the Babenberg dynasty faded away the Hapsburgs took control of the town and the fourteenth century saw the consolidation of their powerful position. In the early sixteenth century the medieval byelaws were revised to confer absolute power on the Hapsburgs.

Over the next three centuries Vienna was a city of renaissance and the imperial city developed into a mecca for the Arts. The nineteenth century began turbulently, Napoleon captured the city twice (1805 & 1809) and took up residence in Schonbrunn until he was defeated in 1814. In 1848, Vienna's tense atmosphere erupted in the form of a revolution and the countryÂ’s citizens forced their Chancellor to resign, their freedom was short-lived however, when just seven months later the Imperial army seized power.

In December 1848 the 18-year-old Franz Josef was crowned emperor. He died in 1916, after a 68-year reign, in the middle of World War One. His funeral was the last time that Vienna would present itself as the capital of a great empire. With the end of the empire in 1918, the city was reduced from a metropolis of over two million, capital of a huge empire of 50 million, to one of just one and a half million, capital of a country of eight million. Since this time Vienna has struggled with its new identity and has only recently began to regain the cosmopolitan character it boasted during the height of the empire's powers.

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