The Vienna Woods (german: Wienerwald) are forested highlands that form the northeastern foothills of the Northern Limestone Alps in the states of

Lower Austria Lower Austria (german: Niederösterreich; Austro-Bavarian: ''Niedaöstareich'', ''Niedaestareich'') is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the northeastern corner of the country. Since 1986, the capital of Lower Austria has been Sankt P ...

and

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. The and range of hills is heavily wooded and a popular recreation area with the Viennese.

Location

The Vienna Woods are bounded by the rivers

Triesting The Triesting is a river of Lower Austria, in the southeastern part of the Vienna Woods. Its drainage basin is . The Triesing has a length of . It discharges into the smaller Schwechat at Achau and is part of the catchment area of the River Da ...

, Gölsen, Traisen and

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...

, and are on the border of the Mostviertel and the Industrieviertel, two of the four quarters of Lower Austria. Reaching into the city of Vienna itself, they are a favourite outdoor destination for the densely populated area around the city.

Geography

The highest elevation in the Vienna Woods is

Schöpfl Schöpfl is the highest hill (893 m) in the Wienerwald mountain range (Vienna woods), the north-easternmost part of the Alps. Geologically, it belongs to the flysch Alps. The main top of the wooded mountain range carries a high observation tow ...

at above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardis ...

, the location of the Leopold Figl observatory. Important rivers in the Vienna Woods are the

Wien en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, the Schwechat and the

. The northeasternmost Leopoldsberg overlooking the Danube and the Vienna Basin forms the eastern end of the

Alpine Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to: Places Europe * Alps, a European mountain range ** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range Australia * Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village * Alpine National P ...

chain. Even though the Vienna Woods are a protected landscape and important recreational area, they are threatened by

urban sprawl Urban sprawl (also known as suburban sprawl or urban encroachment) is defined as "the spreading of urban developments (such as houses and shopping centers) on undeveloped land near a city." Urban sprawl has been described as the unrestricted growt ...

. The

Lainzer Tiergarten The Lainzer Tiergarten is a 24.50 km² (6,054- acre) wildlife preserve in the southwest corner of Vienna, Austria, 80% of it being covered in woodland. It dates back to 1561, when Ferdinand I created it as a fenced-in hunting ground for h ...

, an extensive park populated by the

wild boar The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The species i ...

and other woodland animals, as well as the ''Schwarzenbergpark'', were created on the territory of the city of Vienna during the 19th century. The natural park '' Sandstein-Wienerwald'' is near Purkersdorf, some 20 km (12 mi) west of Vienna. There are also some caves, such as the ''Dreidärrischenhöhle'' ("cave of the three deaf men").

Geology

The mountain ranges of the Vienna Woods are the transition between the Eastern Alps and the

Carpathians The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains at . The range stretche ...

, separated by the

and some tectonic lines near Vienna. The northern area is part of the Alps'

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 silicat ...

zone, while its south is part of the Northern Limestone Alps. In the east, the border is the thermal line, which forms a geological break line to the Viennese Basin.

Beech Beech (''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia, and North America. Recent classifications recognize 10 to 13 species in two distinct subgenera, ''Engleriana'' and ''Fagus''. The ''Engl ...

es, oaks and hornbeams grow throughout the north of the Wienerwald forest; in the south are

conifer Conifers are a group of cone-bearing seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single extant class, Pinopsida. All ext ...

s, mostly

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family (biology), family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanic ...

s and firs. The ''Föhrenberge'' (Pine Mountains) natural park is in the latter region.

History

The Vienna Woods have probably been populated since the 8th century. The Vienna Woods was the royal hunting grounds from the 11th century until 1850. Under the influence of the Avars, a Slavic population settled here after the Völkerwanderung, which may account for village names such as Döbling,

Liesing Liesing () is the 23rd district of Vienna. It is on the southwest edge of Vienna, Austria. It was formed after Austria's ''Anschluss'' with Germany, when Vienna expanded from 21 districts to 26. Fifteen Lower Austrian districts, especially the ...

or Gablitz. From the 16th century onwards

forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests, woodlands, and associated resources for human and environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands. ...

was practised. Industrial development beginning circa 1840 encouraged increased settlement of the area. Through the northern part of the Vienna Woods (from Tulln an der Donau), a march of Polish troops of King Jan III Sobieski took place, which were to help Vienna in September 1683. In 1870, plans were brought forward to clear most of the forest, but this caused widespread public resistance, in which Josef Schöffel was one of the most important figures. In 1987, the governors of the states of

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

and

Burgenland Burgenland (; hu, Őrvidék; hr, Gradišće; Austro-Bavarian: ''Burgnland;'' Slovene: ''Gradiščanska'') is the easternmost and least populous state of Austria. It consists of two statutory cities and seven rural districts, with a total of ...

signed the ''Vienna Woods Declaration'' to protect nature in the region.

References

External links