page_title: Wiener Riesenrad
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Wiener Riesenrad / History
caption_attribution_description: Lt Walter Basset Bassett (1864-1907), RN, of Watermouth Castle, Devon. Builder of the Vienna Giant Ferris Wheel ("Wiener Riesenrad") in 1897
context_page_description: The Wiener Riesenrad, or Riesenrad, is a 64.75-metre tall Ferris wheel at the entrance of the Prater amusement park in Leopoldstadt, the 2nd district of Austria's capital Vienna. It is one of Vienna's most popular tourist attractions, and symbolises the district as well as the city for many people. Constructed in 1897, it was the world's tallest extant Ferris wheel from 1920 until 1985.
context_section_description: The Wiener Riesenrad was designed by the British engineers Harry Hitchins and Hubert Cecil Booth and constructed in 1897 by the English engineer Lieutenant Walter Bassett Bassett (1864-1907), Royal Navy, son of Charles Bassett (1834-1908), MP, of Watermouth Castle, Devon. Its purpose was to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Emperor Franz Josef I, and it was one of the earliest Ferris wheels ever built. Bassett's Ferris wheel manufacturing business was not a commercial success, and he died in 1907 almost bankrupt.
  A permit for its demolition was issued in 1916, but because of a lack of funds with which to carry out the destruction, it survived.
  It was built with 30 gondolas, but was severely damaged in World War II and when it was rebuilt only 15 gondolas were replaced.
  The wheel is driven by a circumferential cable which leaves the wheel and passes through the drive mechanism under the base, and its spokes are steel cables, in tension.
caption: Lt. Walter Bassett Bassett (1864-1907), RN, builder of the Wiener Riesenrad
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