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Währing () is the 18th district of Vienna and lies in northwestern
Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...
on the edge of the
Vienna Woods The Vienna Woods (german: Wienerwald) are forested highlands that form the northeastern foothills of the Northern Limestone Alps in the states of Lower Austria and Vienna. The and range of hills is heavily wooded and a popular recreation area ...
. It was formed in 1892 from the unification of the older suburbs of Währing, Weinhaus, Gersthof, Pötzleinsdorf,
Neustift am Walde Until 1892 Neustift am Walde (Central Bavarian: ''Neistift aum Woid'') was an independent municipality in the outskirts of Vienna, Austria and is today a part of Döbling, the 19th district of Vienna. It is also one of the 89 Katastralgemeinden. ...
and
Salmannsdorf Salmannsdorf (Central Bavarian: ''Salmaunsduaf'') is a part of Döbling, the 19th district of Vienna. Wien.gv.at webpage (see below: References). Salmannsdorf was an independent municipality until 1892, when it was incorporated into the Wäh ...
. In 1938 Neustift am Walde and Salmannsdorf were annexed to the neighbouring 19th District (Döbling).


Geography


Location

Währing covers 6.28 km2 in northwestern Vienna on the slopes of the Wienerwald between the Gürtel and the Höhenstraße. The district ascends from the steep banks of the (now channeled and enclosed) Währinger Stream on both sides. It is bordered to the north by the 19th District (Döbling), to the east by the 9th District (Alsergrund) and to the south and west by the 17th District (Hernals).


Geology

Währing lies between two ridges to the north and south. The hills of Schafsberg and Michaelerberg belong to the Wienerwald and form part of the boundary of the
Vienna Basin The Vienna Basin (german: Wiener Becken, cz, Vídeňská pánev, sk, Viedenská kotlina, Hungarian: ''Bécsi-medence'') is a geologically young tectonic burial basin and sedimentary basin in the seam area between the Alps, the Carpathians and t ...
. The hills in Währing consist of multi-layered
sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...
alternating with
clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...
, except for the high grounds of Pötzleinsdorf and Türkenschanze, which are of sands. In the lower parts of the district one finds deposits of the stone tegel; at higher elevations mostly hard sands, rocks and boulders. On the road Schafberggasse
limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...
was uncovered during construction of a canal: due to the former location of the
Tethys Ocean The Tethys Ocean ( el, Τηθύς ''Tēthús''), also called the Tethys Sea or the Neo-Tethys, was a prehistoric ocean that covered most of the Earth during much of the Mesozoic Era and early Cenozoic Era, located between the ancient continents ...
, various remnants of marine life can be found beneath the district. Numerous sand quarries in the area provided building material for centuries.


Hills

Währing is enclosed between two elongated ridges extending from the northwest to the south and forming the valley of the Währinger Stream. The Schafberg range lies to the south, running from the largely forest-covered Schafberg (390 m) through Kleiner Schafberg (305 m), Mitterberg and Ganserlberg up to the Gürtel. To the north the district is bordered by spurs of the Michaelerberg (387 m), which lies on the western border with the 17th District and is almost completely forested. Its spurs extend through the Pötzleinsdorfer Höhe and the Windmühlhöhe to the southeast until they reach the plateau of Türkenschanze. The Ladenburghöhe, which border Pötzleinsdorfer Schlosspark to the south, lie between the two ridges and run parallel to and northeast of the Schafberg range.


Watercourses

In the 19th Century the district was still defined by the Währinger Stream, which rises in Pötzleinsdorfer Schlosspark. Originally this stream was in a deep valley along the route of the streets Pötzleinsdorfer Straße, Gersthofer Straße, Gentzgasse and Währinger Straße, and flowed into the River Als in the 9th District. By the end of the 19th Century it had been completely transformed into a drain. The last open-flowing part of the stream system is a stretch of the Dürwaring Stream, near Schafbergbad south of the Ladenburghöhe.


Neighbourhoods

The district was formed in 1892 from six previously independent outer suburbs, of which
Salmannsdorf Salmannsdorf (Central Bavarian: ''Salmaunsduaf'') is a part of Döbling, the 19th district of Vienna. Wien.gv.at webpage (see below: References). Salmannsdorf was an independent municipality until 1892, when it was incorporated into the Wäh ...
and
Neustift am Walde Until 1892 Neustift am Walde (Central Bavarian: ''Neistift aum Woid'') was an independent municipality in the outskirts of Vienna, Austria and is today a part of Döbling, the 19th district of Vienna. It is also one of the 89 Katastralgemeinden. ...
were annexed to the neighbouring 19th District in 1938. From east to west the remaining suburbs were Währing (the original, eponymous outer suburb), Weinhaus, Gersthof and Pötzleinsdorf. An alternative subdivision of the district is given by the census areas used for official statistics. For Währing these are Währinger Cottage, Gentzgasse, Kreuzgasse, Gersthof and Pötzleinsdorf (with Gersthof and Pötzleinsdorf on this list having different boundaries from their respective historical suburbs).


Land use

Währing comprises 53.6% built-up areas (compared to 33.2% Vienna-wide), of which 92.83% are residential. Green space occupies 30.2% of the district: woodland 14.4%, parkland 7.9%, meadows 3.0%, allotments 2.9%, sports fields 1.3% and agriculture (
vineyards A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vineyards ...
) 0.6%. Third come transport areas, which make up 16.2% of the total land area.


History

The most spectacular individual group of the Austrian resistance against National Socialism during the Second World War was that of the Währing priest
Heinrich Maier Heinrich Maier (; 16 February 1908 – 22 March 1945) was an Austrian Roman Catholic priest, pedagogue, philosopher and a member of the Austrian resistance, who was executed as the last victim of Hitler's régime in Vienna. The resistance gr ...
. The center of the group was on the one hand the parish church of St. Leopold in Gersthof and the villa of Franz Josef Messner on Hasenauerstrasse. This very successful Catholic resistance group very successfully passed on plans and production facilities for
V-1 V1, V01 or V-1 can refer to version one (for anything) (e.g., see version control) V1, V01 or V-1 may also refer to: In aircraft * V-1 flying bomb, a World War II German weapon * V1 speed, the maximum speed at which an aircraft pilot may abort ...
,
V-2 rocket The V-2 (german: Vergeltungswaffe 2, lit=Retaliation Weapon 2), with the technical name ''Aggregat 4'' (A-4), was the world’s first long-range guided ballistic missile. The missile, powered by a liquid-propellant rocket engine, was develop ...
s,
Tiger tank Tiger tank may refer to: *Tiger I, or ''Panzerkampfwagen'' Tiger ''Ausf. E'', a German heavy tank produced from 1942 to 1944 *Tiger II, or ''Panzerkampfwagen'' Tiger ''Ausf. B'', a German heavy tank produced from 1943 to 1945, also known as ''Kön ...
s and aircraft ( Messerschmitt Bf 109,
Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet The Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet is a rocket-powered interceptor aircraft primarily designed and produced by the German aircraft manufacturer Messerschmitt. It is the only operational rocket-powered fighter aircraft in history as well as ...
, etc.) to the Allies. The resistance group, later discovered by the
Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...
, was in contact with
Allen Dulles Allen Welsh Dulles (, ; April 7, 1893 – January 29, 1969) was the first civilian Director of Central Intelligence (DCI), and its longest-serving director to date. As head of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) during the early Cold War, he ov ...
, the head of the US OSS in Switzerland. With the location sketches of the production facilities, the Allied bombers were able to carry out precise air raids and thus protect residential areas. The information was important to
Operation Crossbow ''Crossbow'' was the code name in World War II for Anglo-American operations against the German long range reprisal weapons (V-weapons) programme. The main V-weapons were the V-1 flying bomb and V-2 rocket – these were launched against Brita ...
and Operation Hydra, both preliminary missions for
Operation Overlord Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allies of World War II, Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Front (World War II), Western Europe during World War II. The operat ...
. In contrast to many other German resistance groups, the Maier group provided information about the mass murder of Jews very early on through their contacts with the Semperit factory near Auschwitz. There are memorial plaques both at the parish church and in Hasenauerstrasse.


Toponymy

The first mention of Währing is in documents from around 1170, as ''Warich''. The name could plausibly come from Slavic (''var'' for a warm spring) or Germanic (''werich'' for a plot of land that a farmer can work for a day) origins. It could also come from Werigandus, the first abbot of
Michaelbeuern Abbey Michaelbeuern Abbey (german: Abtei Michaelbeuern) is a Benedictine monastery in Dorfbeuern near Salzburg in Austria. History A monastic cell existed here as early as 736 or thereabouts, referred to in the Aachen Monastery Register(''"Klosterverze ...
. The name could also go back to Slavic land acquisitions: Döbling from ''toplica'', warm stream, and Währing from ''varica'', dark stream.


Population

At the 2008 census the population of Währing was 47,861, down from a high point of 87,658 in 1910. The average age is slightly above that of Vienna as a whole. In 2001, the proportion of people over 60 was about 25% in Währing compared to 22.2% in the city as a whole. In 2005 the proportion of expatriate residents stood at 23.7%, up from 17.9% in 2003. The greatest number of expats came from
Serbia & Montenegro Serbia and Montenegro ( sr, Cрбија и Црна Гора, translit=Srbija i Crna Gora) was a country in Southeast Europe located in the Balkans that existed from 1992 to 2006, following the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yu ...
, 6.4% of the total population. Another 3.1% were
Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...
n citizens, 1.6% Turkish, 1.4%
Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...
and 1.1%
Eritrea Eritrea ( ; ti, ኤርትራ, Ertra, ; ar, إرتريا, ʾIritriyā), officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of Eastern Africa, with its capital and largest city at Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia ...
nn. According to a 2001 survey, 52.8% of the population declared themselves
Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
, with significant minorities belonging to the
Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptized members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops via ...
,
Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
, and
Evangelic Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual exper ...
churches. The five Roman Catholic parishes in the district make up the 18th City
Deanery A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residenc ...
.


Culture and sightseeing


Architecture

Interesting castles and villas include the Geymüllerschlössel, the Schloss Pötzleinsdorf with its extensive parks, and numerous villas in the Cottageviertel. The
Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
churches in the district are Ägydiuskirche (St. Giles' church) in Pötzleinsdorf, the Johannes Nepomuk Chapel in Gersthof and the Währinger Pfarrkirche, which was greatly expanded in 1934. Several churches were built in the
historicism Historicism is an approach to explaining the existence of phenomena, especially social and cultural practices (including ideas and beliefs), by studying their history, that is, by studying the process by which they came about. The term is widely u ...
style: the Gersthofer Pfarrkirche, Lazaristenkirche, the Lutherkirche and the Wienhauser Pfarrkirche. The Pötzleinsdorfer Pfarrkircher is a notable church building from the 1960s.


Theatre

Currently there are three small stages in the district, the “Theater des Augenblicks”, the “Rampenlicht-Theater” and the “Theaterlabor”.


Museums

Währing’s most important museum is a branch of the Museum of Applied Arts (MAK) in the Geymüllerschlössel in Pötzleinsdorf. There is also the Währing District Museum and the Österreichische Sprachinselmuseum.


Parks

Währing has several large parks. The best known are the Pötzleinsdorfer Schlosspark, Türkenschanzpark, and the Währingerpark (formerly a cemetery). The Schubert Park (see below) and the non-public Sternwartepark (“
Observatory An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysical, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. His ...
Park”) are also noteworthy.


Cemeteries

Währing has two cemeteries of note. The cemetery, Währing Cemetery; now known as Schubert Park; is the site of the original burial places of composers
Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...
and
Franz Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wor ...
. The graves of both composers were moved to the
Zentralfriedhof The Vienna Central Cemetery (german: Wiener Zentralfriedhof) is one of the largest cemeteries in the world by number of interred, and is the most well-known cemetery among Vienna's nearly 50 cemeteries. The cemetery's name is descriptive of its ...
in Vienna in 1888, but there remains a bust of Schubert in memory of his original resting place. This bust was made by sculptor Josef A. Dialer. The epitaph written by Franz Grillparzer reads in German: ''Die Tonkunst begrub hier einen reichen Besitz aber noch viel schönere Hoffnungen'' (The art of music buried here a rich possession and yet much finer hopes.) The Jewish Cemetery, Währing, opened in 1784, was the main burial site for members of the
Israelitische Kultusgemeinde Wien The Jewish Community of Vienna (Israelitische Kultusgemeinde Wien or IKG) is the body that represents Vienna's Orthodox Judaism, Orthodox Jewish community. Today, the IKG has around 10 000 members. Throughout history, it has represented almost all ...
and formerly lay within the border of Währing. (Today, however, due to boundary changes, the cemetery, despite its name, is no longer part of the 18th Vienna district of Währing, but belongs to
Döbling Döbling () is the 19th District in the city of Vienna, Austria (german: 19. Bezirk, Döbling, Doebling). It is located on the north end from the central districts, north of the districts Alsergrund and Währing. Döbling has some heavily populate ...
, the 19th district.) Besides the
St. Marx Cemetery St. Marx Cemetery (Sankt Marxer Friedhof) is a cemetery in the Landstraße district of Vienna, used from 1784 until 1874. It contains the unmarked grave of the famous composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. History The cemetery was named after a nearb ...
it is the last remaining cemetery of Vienna in the Biedermeier style. After its closure in the 1880s, it was partially destroyed during the time of the
Third Reich Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
, and is now only partly accessible due to its increasing decay. A long-running debate over the restoration of the cemetery has been taking place since 2006 between politicians of the federal and local levels as well as experts.


Astronomy

The asteroid 226 Weringia was discovered in 1882 from Währing and named in its honor.NASA.gov
/ref>


Notes


External links

* *
Local news site "Unser Währing"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Waehring Districts of Vienna