Autor: Michael Würzelberger

In 1907/08 Friederike Luithlen founded a private hospital with 34 patient rooms built according to plans by Robert Oerley, which later became known as the Auersperg Sanatorium for skin diseases. Revolutionary for its time: private bathroom, adjoining apartment and telephone connection.

With its simple façade structured by cornices and windows, the building with its natural stone base is considered an example of Viennese Modernism. Hot water heating was also installed during construction.

A prominent patient in 1924 was Sigmund Freud, who suffered from oral cancer and underwent surgery there. The sanatorium was closed in 1956, then converted into a student residence after the roof area was rebuilt, and has been run as a hotel with a glass exhibition by Ioan Nemtoi since 2006.

The Jedleseer Bridge in the 21st district, built in 1983, is a single-span cable-stayed bridge for pedestrians and cyclists connecting the districts of Jedlesee and Schwarze Lackenau with the Danube Island.

It is one of around 1,700 bridges, footbridges and stairways in Vienna (roughly twice as many as in Venice) and was built as part of the Second Vienna Danube Regulation.

Jedlesee was originally a farming village with fishermen on a tributary of the Danube, the Schwarze Lacke, and was incorporated into the large municipality of Floridsdorf in 1894, which was incorporated into Vienna 10 years later.

View from the „Libelle“ (dragonfly) on the roof of the Leopold Museum onto the large courtyard in the Museumsquartier, the former court stables, on the occasion of the opening of the ImPulsTanz festival.

The opening performance, which was free to attend, was given by Amala Dianor/Kaplan with her fascinating performance LEVEL UP.

On 10 June 2025 the Praterateliers in Leopoldstadt were reopened in the pavilions built for the 1873 World Exhibition. Today, they are among the only surviving buildings of the monumental structures erected at that time. Emperor Franz Josef himself approved their reuse as sculptors‘ studios for pragmatic reasons, as the construction of the Ringstrasse created high demand for architectural sculpture.

In addition to the important Anton Hanak in the early 20th century, Karl Prantl, Alfred Hrdlicka, Oswald Oberhuber and Bruno Gironcoli, among others, worked there after World War II. Today, the listed South Pavilion, which has been renovated with EU funds, is home to the international residence programme PART and, in addition to 16 studios for local and international artists, curators and researchers, also houses a multifunctional exhibition hall and the ‘Bar des Amateurs’.

To kick things off, in addition to insights into the studios, works by Czech sculptor Anna Hulačová were also on display under the title ‘hungry harvest,’ an installation of free-standing concrete sculptures depicting abstract figures and technical apparatus, among other things.

The Wittgenstein House, built according to plans by Paul Engelmann and Ludwig Wittgenstein, was commissioned by Ludwig’s sister Margaret Stonborough-Wittgenstein and completed in 1928. It has been home to the Bulgarian Cultural Institute since 1975.

Although the villa is now quite dilapidated and the surrounding garden has been significantly reduced in size, the detached, purist building, constructed from cubic blocks, remains fascinating to this day.

The radically functionalist design, the conflict-ridden (and expensive) history of its creation for the client and her brother, and the unusual location in Kundmanngasse in the 3rd district give the building a distinctive appearance, both inside and out.

The new Schrammel monument in Schrammel Park in Dornbach in Vienna’s 17th district, created by Viennese sculptor Eduard Robitschko, was unveiled in November 1967 as a replacement for the Alszauberbrunnen fountain and depicts the typical musical instruments of the Schrammel quartet: contraguitar, G clarinet and violins.

The most famous Viennese folk music group is named after Johann and Josef Schrammel, who came from a family of musicians and also enjoyed a thorough musical education at the conservatory.

Together with their father and a relative, they performed for the first time in 1861 (at the ages of 11 and 9) in a tavern in Austria’s northernmost town, L:itschau, where they also grew up. However, both musicians died young, at the age of 43.

The eventful history of Palais Auersperg in the 8th district begins in 1710 with the opening of the residence planned by Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach and Johann Lucas von Hildebrandt for Hieronymus Capece de Rofrano. He was Postmaster General and a member of the Spanish Council under Emperor Charles VI, the highest authority for territories in Naples, Milan and Sardinia.

However, he did not live to see its final completion. This was reserved for his son Peter, who, as a well-known young man of society life, is also said to be the model for Octavian Rofrano in the opera “Der Rosenkavalier” by Richard Strauss and libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. After his early death, Johann Adam Prince Auersperg – a confidant of Maria Theresa – took over the baroque palace in 1777.

Despite a number of subsequent changes of ownership, the palace is still used today as a venue for a variety of parties and events. In 1954, the palace was also extended by the Austrian arch. Oswald Haerdtl.

The bronze bust of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart by sculptor Johann Baptist Feßler from 1849, which impresses with its realistic depiction, was commissioned by art patron and wholesaler Pietro di Galvagni for a memorial in the new building in Rauhensteingasse – the Mozarthof, which had been completed a year earlier.

A memorial plaque on the plinth reminds us that Mozart died in 1791 in the predecessor building next door, in a corner wing rented there. It was the last of his 12 different residences in Vienna; at the beginning, before his marriage, Mozart was still a subtenant.

Today, the bust is located in the entrance area of “Mythos Mozart”, a multimedia presentation of Mozart’s time led by the compositions “The Magic Flute” and the Requiem, which were also composed there.