The Innere Stadt District
The Innere Stadt literally means "internal city ” in other words “the city in the city”. The district is situated between Leopoldstadt (the North East), Landstrasse ( the East), Wieden and Mariahilf (the South), Neubau and Josefstadt ( the West) and Alsergrund ( the North). The Innere Stadt is the oldest district of Vienna, it contains the historic areas and the Centre. The district was split into quarters - Stubenviertel (the North East), Kärntner Viertel (the South East), Widmerviertel (the South West) and Schottenviertel (the North West). Until 1850 the Innere Stadt was the equivalent of Vienna, and after that year it started to be treated as a separate district in extending city.
In the Innere Stadt we will find some of the most significant tourist attractions of the capital of Austria. We can see the oldest churches such as Ruprechtskirche or the Maria am Gestade ( the oldest Gothic church in Vienna), baroque Peterskirche, the archbishop's seat (Stephansdom) and the last open pre-war synagogue (Stadttempel from 1825, which was not destroyed during so called "Crystal Night"). Except sacred buildings there are also other monuments like the prestige Court Theatre (Burgtheater - created in 1741 during the reign of Maria Theresa, partly rebuilt after the war) or the Albertina - a gallery from 1768 which has one of the largest collection of the graphic artist. Apart from those places in the Innere Stadt we will also find the largest Viennese museum - the Naturhistorisches Museum, or the Imperial Palace Hofburg. There is Graben Street which has a shape of a long square. It is rather important part of the city where we can see the baroque Morow Column - Pestsäule. Leopold I put it in a burial place as a special thanks for rescuing him from plague in 1679. The original column put by Leopold I had been made of wood, and later Matthias Rauchmiller designed a marble one. There is also Vienna State Opera (Staatsoper) which began its activity with Mozart's opera “Don Giovanniego”in 1869.
Truly speaking - if we see the Innere Stadt we can say we have seen almost whole old Vienna.
The growth of the city and war caused that in recent years the number of inhabitants of the oldest district of Vienna decreased very quickly. In 1869 over 68 thousand people lived in the Innere Stadt, and eleven years later the population of the district grew to about 78 thousand inhabitants. But in 2005 only 17 thousand persons lived there. Over half of them are Roman Catholics, other are the confessors of Orthodox Church, Protestantism and Judaism. About 20 per cent of occupants of the Innere Stadt do not belong to any religious group. Except Austrians there are also Serbians, Germans, Hungarians and Croatians.
The first, after war, president of the district, only for several months, was Theodor Köpl. Presently, since 2005, Ursula Stenzel is the president of the Innere Stadt. Now in the representation of the Innere Stadt there are 18 councillors from Austrian Populist Party (Österreichische Volkspartei), 13 from Social Democratic Party of Austria (Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs), 7 from Green (Die Grünen - Die Grüne Alternative) and two councillors from Austrian Liberation Party (Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs).
The tour around the Innere Stadt is a tour full of history, art and culture. And the night in one of numerous hotels and apartments Vienna scattered throughout the city can be unforgettable experience.So remember if you are in Vienna and you do not visit Innere Stadt, you cannot say you have seen Vienna.
Autor: Miroslaw Nikolin - www.Hotels-Base.com