Vienna

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Observe Vienna's Schloss Schönbrunn, Gothic St. Stephen's Cathedral, and postmodern Haas Haus building

Tour Vienna's Rococo, Gothic, and postmodern buildings and learn about the city's imperial past

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Vienna

national capital, Austria

Also known as: Bécs, Videň, Vindobona, Wenia, Wien, Wienis

Written by Roland John Hill, Lutz Holzner•All

Fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: Dec 19, 2024 • Article History

German:: Wien

Czech:: Videň

Hungarian:: Bécs

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News •

Rapid Vienna’s Guido Burgstaller suffers skull fracture in city centre attack • Dec. 16, 2024, 11:46 PM ET (The Guardian)

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Vienna, city and Bundesland (federal state), the capital of Austria. Of the country’s nine states, Vienna is the smallest in area but the largest in population. Modern Vienna has undergone several historical incarnations. From 1558 to 1918 it was an imperial city—until 1806 the seat of the Holy Roman Empire and then the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In 1918 it became the capital of the truncated, landlocked central European country that emerged from World War I as a republic. From 1938 to 1945 Austria was a part of Adolf Hitler’s “Greater” Germany, and Vienna became “Greater” Vienna, reflecting the ...(100 of 6675 words)

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