VIENNA (Wien), the capital of the circle of Austria, and of the whole Austrian empire, is situated upon an arm of the Danube, to the south of the main stream, at the mouth of the rivulet Wien, about 500 feet above the level of the sea, and in north latitude 48° 12', and east longitude 16° 22'. The city, properly so called, is very small, consisting in 1827, of only 1227 houses, while the suburbs contained 7415. It is surrounded with a strong and compactly built brick wall, rising from fifty to seventy feet above the outer ditch, and forming a fine terrace, which serves as a public promenade, called the Bastey. The Bastey is externally surrounded by the Glacis, an open space, varying in width from about 1200 to 1600 feet, and rising gradually into eminences upon which the thirty-four suburbs are built. These are also surrounded with a wall, the external circumference of which is about fourteen miles, but are completely separated from the city by the Glacis, which has been laid out with fine walks, thus affording, in the very midst of the town, every facility for air and exercise to the inhabitants. Within the narrow circuit of the Bastey, which may be walked round in fifty minutes, is contained almost every object of interest or importance; the Imperial palace, the offices of government, the residences of the higher classes, most of the public museums, libraries, and galleries, the best shops, and, with one exception, all the good hotels. But, like those of most other old towns, the streets of the city are narrow, the places small, and the houses lofty, rising to four or five stories, occupied by different families, and, like those of Edinburgh and Paris, approached by a common stair. Their average number of occupants is about forty; but in the very heart of the city, there are large masses of building, containing more inhabitants than many a large village. They are generally built in the form of a square surrounding a small dark court, and are under the superintendence of a Hausmeister, a person appointed by the proprietor to watch over the building and its tenants, to preserve the cleanliness of the common passages, and attend to the street door. It is however fashionable to reside in the city; and even a tradesman domiciliated there holds a higher rank than his brethren in the suburbs. The suburbs are not so splendidly built as the city; but their more elevated situation, their wide and regular streets, and the inferior height of the houses, would seem to render them a preferable residence, were it not for the domineering influence of fashion.

Among the numerous public buildings which adorn Vienna, the following may be enumerated as the principal. The Kaiserburg, or imperial palace, is a very large building, of a most irregular form, consisting indeed of a conglomeration of edifices erected at different times, but presenting, nevertheless, many portions remarkable for their magnificence, and the beauty of their architecture. It stands on the south side of the city, incloses several courts, one of which, Joseph’s Platz, is adorned with a fine equestrian statue, in bronze, of the emperor Joseph II. The part used as the residence of the sovereign is called the Schweit-zerhof, and is an extensive building forming two sides of a square, but its appearance is not very striking. It however contains large collections of valuable works of art. The rest of the building is devoted to various purposes, comprising, among others, the Hof-Bibliothek, or imperial library, the chancery of the empire, the imperial riding-school, and the theatre of the palace. The library is a temple worthy o. the intellectual treasures which it enshrines. It contained, in 1839, 425,631 volumes of printed books in every language, and 17,136 manuscripts, mostly of great value. The palaces and mansions of the nobility are among the most interesting buildings in Vienna, while those devoted to public purposes are seldom worthy of the smallest notice. Among these mansions may be noticed the palace of the Archduke Charles, and the gorgeous palace of the Prince of Liechtenstein. The ancient palace of Prince Eugene, called the Belvedere, was converted into a museum by Joseph IL, to whose munificence and taste Vienna is thus indebted for one of the best collections of paintings in Europe, particularly rich in the works of the Flemish and the German [7:21:644]schools. The ground floor of the Belvedere also contains a fine collection of ancient armour, and of portraits of the most distinguished persons connected with the house of Hapsburg. The arsenal likewise contains collections of weapons of war ingeniously arranged; and, in the city arsenal, besides sufficient arms for 30,000 men, and a proportional artillery, there is a large collection of Turkish trophies, including the head of the grand vizier, Kara Mustapha, who commanded the Turks at the siege of Vienna in 1683. Vienna is indeed well calculated to afford gratification to the antiquary and the admirer of the fine arts; for, besides the imperial and public collections, many noblemen have their separate galleries and collections, and all are of easy access.

Vienna contains fifty-seven Catholic, one Lutheran, one Calvinist, and four Greek churches, with two Jewish synagogues. The principal of these is the cathedral church of St Stephen, almost in the heart of the city; a beautiful Gothic building, with a steeple remarkable for its symmetry and height. It was begun by the first duke of Austria, before the middle of the twelfth century; in the thirteenth it was twice destroyed by fire, and then rebuilt in its present form. Its greatest length is 355 feet, and its extreme breadth 230; the height of the steeple is 420 or 434 feet, and it is ascended by 753 steps. Next in rank to the cathedral the Viennese reckon the church of St Carlo Borromeo, in the suburb Wieden, erected by the emperor Charles VI., between 1715 and 1737. It is a large massy structure, surmounted by an oval dome cased in glittering copper, and having in front a porticoof six Corinthian columns. Before the church are placed two Doric columns, each of thirteen feet diameter, and having their shafts adorned with a spiral band of bas relief; those of the one representing the life and death, and those of the other the actions of the saint. The church of the Capuchins is only remarkable for containing the sepulchral vault of the imperial family, where the remains of its members have been deposited, since the emperor Matthias, in 1619. The coffins are of bronze, oblong in form, and very large. But the hearts of the deceased are deposited in one of the chapels of the Augustinians, and their other viscera in St Stephen’s. We may also mention St Peter’s church, a poor imitation of St Peter’s at Rome; the church of the Augustinians, remarkable for its extent, and for the tomb of the archduchess Christina, the work of Canova; and the church of St Rupert, remarkable for its antiquity, having been originally built in A.D. 740, restored in 1436, and again in 1703.

Vienna is most liberally provided with scientific institutions and charitable establishments. The university, founded in 1237, possesses an astronomical observatory, an anatomical theatre, a laboratory, a good library of 100,000 volumes, a museum of natural history, a botanical garden, and forty-two professors. It was established on its present footing, and the building which it occupies was erected by the empress-queen Maria Theresa, in 1755. Besides the university garden, the late emperor Francis II. established, at the Upper Belvedere, another botanical garden, where may be found almost all the plants indigenous to Germany. There is also a gymnasium, equally well appointed, and a commercial academy, in which pupils are instructed, not only in the usual routine of school learning, but also in the science and the history of commerce, the knowledge of merchandise, and mercantile law, the productions and advantages of all the commercial states in the known world, and those objects of natural history that furnish materials for commerce, manufactures, and philosophy; chemistry asap-plied to the useful arts; correspondence on all kinds of business; drawing, mechanics, mathematics, &c. For all these branches the pupils pay only three florins (six shillings and twopence) a-month; and for a small additional sum they are taught the Latin, English, French, and Italian languages. The oriental academy is unique of its kind. Here young men are instructed in the oriental languages, and also in the political relations of Austria with the Eastern nations. When their studies are finished, they are employed as secretaries to ambassadors, consuls, or other agents of the government in the East. This excellent institution was founded by the emperor Joseph II., and has produced some of the most distinguished men in the recent history of Austria. The Theresian academy was founded by the empress-queen Maria Theresa, for the education of the sons of the nobility; but her philosophic son, Joseph II, thinking they would be better fitted to perform the duties of good citizens, if educated in a school of more mixed character, suppressed it, and distributed the revenues in pensions to meritorious civil and military officers. His nephew, however, the late emperor Francis II, re-established it on the original plan. It is under the superintendence of a director, and has twenty-one professors, ten masters of modern languages, and several tutors. The medicochirurgical academy, founded by Joseph II, is one of the finest buildings in Vienna. It has accommodation for 1200 patients; the science is taught by six professors; and the collection of anatomical figures in wax, by Fontanor, is little inferior to that of Florence. The general hospital for the sick, also founded by the same emperor, contains 111 rooms, with 2000 beds, and is computed to receive annually about 10,000 patients. Adjoining to this is the lying-in-hospital, another monument of Joseph’s benevolence. There is likewise a foundling hospital, and many other charitable institutions, which reflect the highest honour on the founders, and on the liberality of the government which supports them. Besides the scientific establishments already mentioned, there are also at Vienna an academy of military engineers established in 1717, in which seventy-nine pupils are gratuitously educated; a veterinary school; and the imperial polytechnic school, designed for the instruction of tradesmen in their various arts and professions. The general state of science is however represented as far from flourishing. The number of scientific men is small; and, with the exception of a small medical society, there is no institution, by means of which they can keep up an intercourse with each other. Medicine and the various branches of natural history are the sciences most cultivated. The botanical gardens are good; and the imperial museum of natural history, which occupies several large rooms in the palace, is particularly important. Of all accomplishments, however, a proficiency in music holds the highest place in the estimation of the Viennese; and, in the practice of this art, they are certainly as much above the other nations of Europe (except the Italians), as they are below them in more solid and useful pursuits.

Besides the Bastey and the Glacis, already mentioned, Vienna possesses several other public walks and gardens of great value and importance to the health and recreation of the citizens. The most celebrated of these is the Prater, said to be the finest public park in Europe. It is situate on the north-east of the city, in a large island, formed by two branches of the Danube. From the entrance, the principal drive extends about half a mile in length, divided by rows of trees into five alleys, of which the two outer are appropriated to pedestrians, the next two to equestrians, and the inner one to carriages. Beyond its termination, is the more rural part of the Prater. There the wood becomes thicker, the alleys are no longer straight and forma), but wind irregularly till they are stopped by the banks of the Danube itself. On each side of the drive stretches a verdant lawn, plentifully studded with coffeehouses, and therefore much frequented by the listless pedestrians, who seat themselves under shady awnings, or on the grass beneath clumps of trees, enjoying in idle gaiety their ices, coffee, and cigars. The Prater is frequented daily by the rich [7:21:645] and the great, on horseback or in carriages. On Sundays and other festivals the shopkeepers and mechanics likewise resort to it in flocks, to amuse themselves and their children with ninepins, conjurors, see-saws, and roundabouts, and to dine under the trees and the pavilions. Three or four times a-year fireworks are displayed in the Prater, each exhibition of which lasts forty minutes, and represents tern - ples, grottoes, parterres of flowers, fortresses, &c. To the westward of the Prater, communicating with it by two alleys, and on the same island, is the Augarten, a large enclosure, intersected by regular walks, and containing two large eating-rooms, where parties are supplied with dinner, a billiard-room, a dancing-room, and a coffee-room. On the first of May this garden is crowded to excess. The Brigitenau is a large meadow to the west of the Augarten, divided from it by the wall of the suburb, and still on the same island. It contains a church and two public houses, and has its share of company in fine weather. On the first Sunday and Monday after St Bridget’s day, a fête is held here; and the number of persons who then come to dance and amuse themselves usually amounts to about thirty thousand. The island which contains these parks and gardens, is connected with the city and the southern suburbs by six bridges. The Volksgarten is a large enclosure, between the Kaiserburg and the south wall of the city; it is in fact the palace garden, but the people are freely admitted, and it forms a favourite promenade. It contains a semicircular building where coffee and other refreshments may be procured; and also a Doric temple, built on the model of that of Theseus at Athens, to contain a group by Canova, of Theseus killing the Minotaur. For in-door amusement, there are several theatres. Two of these are in the city, namely the Burg, or Palace theatre, and the Kaernth-nerthor (Carinthian gate) theatre. There are others in the suburbs, and one of them, near the Wien, is capacious and handsome. The imperial theatre, where operas are performed, is not remarkable for its architecture or its stage decorations; but its instrumental and vocal performances may, generally speaking, be called the best in Europe.

The police in Vienna has long been celebrated as one of the most perfect in the world. But its functions are not confined to the ordinary duties of repressing crime, and watching over the public health and convenience; it also takes care that no one presume to discuss too freely affairs of state, or canvass the measures of the government in a spirit opposed to its wishes. Foreigners, and especially those who come from countries where liberal opinions are prevalent, are therefore kept under a vigilant inspection, and any offensive conduct on their part is instantly followed by an order to quit the city. As a necessary appendage to this system, spies are employed, whose official duties are not confined to coffeehouses, and other places of public resort, but extend even to the privacy of domestic life. For the more legitimate, or at least more laudable purposes of police, the city and suburbs are divided into eight districts, to each of which is appointed a physician, a surgeon, an apothecary, and an accoucheur, all paid by government. It is their duty to attend the necessitous sick at their own houses, and to administer advice and medicine gratis. These functionaries are the guardians of the public health, and make a daily report to the police of the births and deaths; and, to guard against secret crimes, the proprietors of houses are obliged to announce to them the deaths of any of their inmates, nor can any person be interred without producing their certificate. In short, their surveillance, in conjunction with that of the police, is extended to the minutest circumstances that can affect the public health. In what may be called compulsory clcanliness, Vienna might serve as a model to every other city. No dirt of any kind is permitted to be thrown into the streets; no accumulated mass of decayed vegetables is ever to be seen in the mar kets; no slaughter-houses are to be seen throughout the city. Putrefying provisions are never allowed to be sold; no adulterated bread, for that is not only weighed, but chemically analyzed, if suspected to contain improper ingredients; and woe to the offender, for the fine is generally ruinous. The police also regulate the markets and the price of provisions.

Yet notwithstanding all this care, Vienna is decidedly unhealthy, and the climate is generally fatal to delicate constitutions. Colds, catarrhs, and pulmonary complaints are frequent and most malignant. This insalubrity arises from its peculiar situation; for it is exposed to the frequent prevalence of easterly winds, which, blowing over the cold plains of Russia, Poland, and Hungary, the icy tops of the Carpathians, and the waters and marshes of the Danube, increase continually in coldness and dampness till they reach Vienna. To the north wind the city is also equally exposed, while, from the softer influences of the south and the west. It is excluded by a neighbouring chain of mountains, behind which rise the everlasting snows of the Tyrolian and the Carnic Alps. Alternations from heat to cold, and from cold to heat occur two or three times a-day, almost throughout the year. The narrow streets preclude any benefit from the sun, even when he shines; and in dry weather the clouds of dust are intolerable. The mean temperature is from 7° to 9° below zero of Reaumur’s thermometer.

Vienna is the most important manufacturing town in the empire, more than 60,000 persons finding employment in different branches of industry. The principal manufactures consist of silk and other stuffs, gold lace, silver lace, ribbons, hardware, and ironmongery goods, needles, philosophical instruments, carriages, and paper. The carriages are prized in most parts of Germany. There are also several porcelain works, one of which employs 150 painters, and about 1500 work people. There are also made steel ornaments, jewels, watches, musical instruments, and chemical productions. There is a cannon-foundry, and a manufactory of arms, belonging to government. Vienna is indeed the centre of Austrian commerce, and of the capital and circulation requisite to maintain it. The produce of its industry gives rise to an exportation sufficient annually to furnish cargoes for 6000 boats, and loads for nearly 2,000,000 of waggons. The canal of Newstadt serves for a communication, not only with that town, but also with the Danube, through the lower part of the Wien. Three annual fairs are held in the town, and the number of mercantile houses amounts to about a thousand. Besides the canal of Newstadt and the Danube, by which Vienna communicates with Hungary and the upper parts of southern Germany, communications have recently been, or are in the course of being, formed with other provinces, by means of railways. The Ferdinand railway, 276 miles in length, commences in the Prater, extends through Moravia and Silesia by Brunn, Olmutz, and Troppau, to the salt mines of Bochnia, beyond Cracow, with various branches; one of which goes to Presburg, and another from Brunn to Prague. Baron Lina’s railway extends from Vienna to Newstadt, and onward to Raab, with branches to Modling, Lachenburg, and Baden. It then goes to Oedenburg, and south of the Neusiedler See to Raab. The Mittelbahn, or Central railway, extends from the Ferdinand railway at Gausendorf to Presburgh, Romorn, Pesth, and Debreczin, crossing the Theiss by a very long bridge. The total length of this railway is 326 miles. A line has also been projected to connect Vienna with Trieste; but the difficulty of passing so many large rivers and lofty mountains as intervene, is such as would involve a most enormous outlay, even if the execution of the project were found to be practicable.

The population of the city and suburbs was found, in [7:21:646]1830, to amount to 319,873 souls, without counting the garrison and strangers: including them, the total might be 332,000.

The roads immediately beyond the gates of the suburbs are worse than those around any other capital in Europe; and, for several miles, the country is dreary and devoid of interest. But the more distant environs are highly beautiful, and offer numberless interesting excursions to the citizen and the traveller. On the north are the islands of the Danube; on the west the lofty summit of the Calenberg; on the south the mountains of Styria, covered with forests and vineyards; and on the east, towards Hungary, extensive plains, along which the eye ranges unobstructed to the distant horizon. A few miles east of the capital is the imperial palace of Schoenbnmn (Pretty spring,) which was occupied by Napoleon as his head-quarters in 1805 and 1809∙ It was built by Maria Theresa, who used it as her favourite residence. The building is large and superbly furnished; the gardens are well laid out and very beautiful; and the situation is delightful. Lachsenburg or Laxenburg is another imperial palace, where the emperor has two residences; the one an ordinary palace, with a theatre and other appendages; the other a sort of model of an ancient baronial castle, with a moat, portcullis, arched gateway, court, hall, chapel, chambers, dungeons, walls, passages, galleries, communications, turrets, and every other proper accompaniment of an ancient fortress. The interior is fitted up in a corresponding style; and at a little distance there is a regular tilting ground, where occasionally mock tournaments have been held for the emperor’s amusement. We may also mention Maria Hitzing, near Schoenbrunn, which possesses a theatre and baths, and has been considered the finest and most picturesque village in Austria; Penzing, noted for its ribbon manufactures; Meidling, for its mineral waters; and Baden, fifteen miles south-east of Vienna, a fine town, with 3000 inhabitants, and frequented annually by four or five thousand strangers, to drink its mineral waters; and, near Baden, Weilburg, a magnificent palace recently erected by the archduke Charles.

Notwithstanding all its disadvantages of climate and situation, few places possess such ample resources, such general means of enjoyment, both intellectual and physical, as this imperial city. Its magnificent imperial library, scarcely inferior to any in Europe, and its admirable museums and public galleries, are all open to the public, in a manner so perfect as to arrangement and accommodation, as to render them practically and generally useful. The theatres and the opera are all excellent. The streets are crowded with a lively, active, bustling population. Nothing occurs to annoy or molest the passenger; and in no capital of continental Europe does the stranger, whose passports are regular, and conduct orderly, experience or perceive so little of the interference of the police as at Vienna. No beggars are to be seen; no appearance of poverty meets the eye; no one appears badly dressed. The Viennese are indeed a happy and enjoying people; frugal, cheerful, and contented, they seek no alteration in their condition; they know little of their government but its mild and paternal influence; and they dread changes of any kind as fraught with evil. They see their princes mixing among them with all the simplicity and kindness of private citizens; and they love them with an affection which they believe to be reciprocal. Their general tone of character forms them for tranquil enjoyment in themselves, and promoting it mothers; and the lower classes, as well as the higher, are generally found to be mild, kind, and obliging. They are, however, said to be more addicted to sensual than to intellectual pleasures; and the standard of morality is very low among all classes.

Vienna is a place of considerable antiquity, and has been the scene of many historical events. It was originally a small village, encircled by marshes and forests, and peopled by fishermen; but here the Romans established castra stativa, or a standing intrenched camp, which gradually became a town, with the name of Vindobona; and it was here that the emperor Marcus Aurelius died, a.d. 180. On the decline of the Roman empire. It fell successively into the hands of the Goths and Huns; and in 791 was, with the rest of Austria, attached by Charlemagne to his dominions. The origin of the modern town is commonly ascribed to Henry the First, duke of Austria, who is said to have founded it in or about the year 1142. In 1241 it was taken by the emperor Frederick II, and again, in 1297, by the emperor Rudolph, who bestowed it, with the duchy of Austria, upon his son Albert, who became the founder of the archducal, now the imperial family. It was vainly besieged by the Hungarians in 1477; but, eight years afterwards. It was obliged to surrender to Matthias, king of Hungary and Bohemia. It was besieged by the Turks in 1529, and again in 1683; and was relieved, on the latter occasion, only by the arrival of a Polish army, under their king, Sobieski, who beat the Turks with great slaughter before the city. In 1805. It surrendered to the emperor Napoleon; and again in 1809, after a short resistance. Six miles east of the city is the island of Lobau, in the Danube, where the French were encamped for six weeks, in 1809; and opposite it, near the north bank of the river, are the villages of Aspern, Essling, and Wagram, where were fought the desperate battles which decided the fate of the Austrian monarchy at that time. (c.h.)