Vienna

Vienna is the capital of Austria, and is also one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city; with a population of about 1.7 million (2.3 million within the metropolitan area), it is by far the largest city in Austria as well as its cultural, economic, and political center. It is the 10th largest city by population in the European Union and was listed by Mercer Human Resource Consulting as having the 2nd highest quality of living (as of 2008). Vienna is host to many major international organizations such as the United Nations and OPEC. Vienna lies in the very east of Austria and is close to the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. In 2001, the city centre was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site and in 2005 an Economist Intelligence Unit study of 127 world cities ranked it first equal with Vancouver for the quality of life.

Founded around 500 BC, Vienna was originally a Celtic settlement. In 15 BC, Vienna became a Roman frontier city (Vindobona) guarding the Roman Empire against Germanic tribes to the north.

Vienna lies in eastern Austria, at the easternmost extension of the Alps in the Vienna Basin. The earliest settlement, at the location of today's inner city, were south of the meandering Danube while the city now spans both sides of the river. Elevation ranges from 151 to 542 m.

Vienna has a humid continental climate according to Köppens climate. The city has warm, occasional hot summers with daytime temperatures of around 22 - 26°C (72 - 79°F) and lows of around 15°C (59°F). Winters are cold with temperatures of freezing point. Spring and autumn are mild.

Vienna is composed of 23 districts (Bezirke). Legally, they are not districts in the sense of administrative bodies with explicit powers (such as the districts in the other Austrian states), but mere subdivisions of the city administration. Elections at the district level give the representatives of the districts some political power in fields such as planning and traffic.

The 23 districts are numbered for convenience in a roughly clockwise fashion starting in the city centre:

1.Innere Stadt 2.Leopoldstadt
3.Landstraße 4.Wieden
5.Margareten 6.Mariahilf
7.Neubau 8.Josefstadt
9.Alsergrund 10.Favoriten
11.Simmering ` 12.Meidling
13.Hietzing 14.Penzing
15.Rudolfsheim-Fünfhaus 16.Ottakring
17.Hernals 18.Währing
19.Döbling 20.Brigittenau
21.Floridsdorf 22.Donaustadt
23.Liesing

Vienna is the seat of the Viennese Roman Catholic archdiocese, and its current Archbishop is Cardinal Christoph Schönborn. The religions of the Viennese resident population is divided according to the 2001 census as follows:

Roman Catholic 49.2%
No religion 25.7%
Muslim 7.8%
Orthodox 6.0%
Protestant (mostly Lutheran) 4.7%
Jewish 0.5%
Other or none indicated 6.3%

Many Roman Catholic churches in central Vienna also feature performances of religious or other music, including masses sung with classical music and organ.

Art and culture have a long tradition in Vienna, including theater, opera, classical music and fine arts. The Burgtheater is considered one of the best theaters in the German-speaking world alongside its branch, the Akademietheater. The Volkstheater Wien and the Theater in der Josefstadt also enjoy good reputations. There is also a multitude of smaller theaters, in many cases devoted to less mainstream forms of performing arts, such as modern, experimental plays or cabaret.

Vienna is also home to a number of opera houses, including the Staatsoper and the Volksoper, the latter being devoted to the typical Viennese operetta. Classical concerts are performed at well known venues such as the Wiener Musikverein, home of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Wiener Konzerthaus. Many concert venues offer concerts aimed at tourists, featuring popular highlights of Viennese music (particularly the works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Johann Strauss).

In recent years, the Theater an der Wien has become widely known for hosting premieres of musicals, although it has recently devoted itself to the opera again. The most successful musical by far was "Elisabeth", which was later translated into several other languages and performed all over the world. The Haus der Musik ("house of music") opened in 2000.