Währing () is the 18th
district of Vienna and lies in northwestern
Vienna
Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
on the edge of the
Vienna Woods
The Vienna Woods (, ) 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 with the Viennese ...
. 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 on the outskirts of Vienna, Austria. Today it is part of Döbling, the 19th district of Vienna. It is also one of the 89 Katastralgemeinden ...
and
Salmannsdorf. 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 (, , , Hungarian: ''Bécsi-medence'') is a geologically young tectonic burial basin and sedimentary basin in the seam area between the Alps, the Carpathians and the Pannonian Plain. Although it topographically separates the Al ...
. The hills in Währing consist of multi-layered
sandstone
Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...
alternating with
clay
Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...
, 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 is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...
was uncovered during construction of a canal: due to the former location of the
Tethys Ocean
The Tethys Ocean ( ; ), also called the Tethys Sea or the Neo-Tethys, was a prehistoric ocean during much of the Mesozoic Era and early-mid Cenozoic Era. It was the predecessor to the modern Indian Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Eurasia ...
, 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 and
Neustift am Walde
Until 1892, Neustift am Walde ( Central Bavarian: ''Neistift aum Woid'') was an independent municipality on the outskirts of Vienna, Austria. Today it is 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 ( , ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines. Many vineyards exist for winemaking; others for the production of raisins, table grapes, and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is kno ...
) 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 regime in Vienna.
The resistance gro ...
. 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,
V-2 rocket
The V2 (), with the technical name ''Aggregat (rocket family), Aggregat-4'' (A4), was the world's first long-range missile guidance, guided ballistic missile. The missile, powered by a liquid-propellant rocket engine, was developed during the S ...
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
The Tiger II was a Nazi Germany, German heavy tank of the World War II, Second World War. The final official ...
s and aircraft (
Messerschmitt Bf 109
The Messerschmitt Bf 109 is a monoplane fighter aircraft that was designed and initially produced by the Nazi Germany, German aircraft manufacturer Messerschmitt#History, Bayerische Flugzeugwerke (BFW). Together with the Focke-Wulf Fw 190, the ...
,
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 (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, 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 F ...
, was in contact with
Allen Dulles
Allen Welsh Dulles ( ; April 7, 1893 – January 29, 1969) was an American lawyer who was the first civilian director of central intelligence (DCI), and its longest serving director. As head of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) during the ea ...
, 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 V-weapons, long range reprisal weapons (V-weapons) programme. The primary V-weapons were the V-1 flying bomb and V-2 rocket, which were launched agai ...
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 liberation of German-occupied Western Front (World War II), Western Europe during World War II. The ope ...
. 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. 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
The State Union of Serbia and Montenegro or simply Serbia and Montenegro, known until 2003 as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and commonly referred to as FR Yugoslavia (FRY) or simply Yugoslavia, was a country in Southeast Europe locate ...
, 6.4% of the total population. Another 3.1% were
Nigeria
Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...
n citizens, 1.6%
Turkish, 1.4%
Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent
* Polish chicken
* Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...
and 1.1%
Eritrea
Eritrea, officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa, with its capital and largest city being Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia in the Eritrea–Ethiopia border, south, Sudan in the west, and Dj ...
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 List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
, with significant minorities belonging to the
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Eastern Orthodox Church, officially the Orthodox Catholic Church, and also called the Greek Orthodox Church or simply the Orthodox Church, is List of Christian denominations by number of members, one of the three major doctrinal and ...
,
Islam
Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
, and
Evangelic 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 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 residence of ...
.
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 Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...
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 the process or history by which they came about. The term is widely used in philosophy, ant ...
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, geophysics, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed.
Th ...
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. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...
and
Franz Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert (; ; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical period (music), Classical and early Romantic music, Romantic eras. Despite his short life, Schubert left behind a List of compositions ...
. The graves of both composers were moved to the
Zentralfriedhof
The Vienna Central Cemetery () is one of the largest cemeteries in the world by number of interred, and is the most well-known among Vienna's nearly 50 cemeteries. The cemetery's name is descriptive of its significance as Vienna's biggest cemet ...
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 ( or IKG) is the body that represents Vienna's Orthodox Jewish community. Today, the IKG has around 10,000 members. Throughout history, it has represented almost all of Austria's Jews, whose numbers are sufficient ...
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 Districts of Vienna, district in the city of Vienna, Austria (). It is located in the north of Vienna, north of the districts Alsergrund and Währing. Döbling has some heavily populated urban areas with many residential bui ...
, the 19th district.) Besides the
St. Marx Cemetery it is the last remaining cemetery of Vienna in the
Biedermeier
The Biedermeier period was an era in Central European art and culture between 1815 and 1848 during which the middle classes grew in number and artists began producing works appealing to their sensibilities. The period began with the end of th ...
style. After its closure in the 1880s, it was partially destroyed during the time of the
Third Reich
Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...
, 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
226 Weringia is a typical main-belt asteroid. It was discovered by Johann Palisa on 19 July 1882, and was named after Währing, part of Vienna, the city where the asteroid was discovered. Photometric observations
during 2008 showed a rotation ...
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