Schlagwort: 1220wien

The 19-part figure group „Passanten“ (Passers-by) from 1985 on the Danube Island between Brigittenauer Brücke and Reichsbrücke consists of iron and steel sculptures of unclothed human figures in various poses.

The Viennese Prof. Herbert Traub, graduate of the Akad. d. bild. Künste and later himself a professor at the University of Haifa and Stuttgart, is responsible for the design. The installation probably also recalls his many years of work as a stage designer for theatre and film and, of course, the summer bathing paradise on the Danube Island.

The sculpture „Development of Human History“ by the renowned Iraqi artist Suhail al Hindawi on Wagramer Straße in the 22nd district between the Vienna International Center (UNO-City) and the subway station with the same name from 2016 refers to the history of the Sumerians and the development of writing.

On the one hand symbols of the development history of mankind are shown, such as the sun, water and agriculture, as well as the symbols that reflect the UN Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations and are also authoritative for the „OPEC Fund for International Development“, short OFID. The 40th anniversary of the Fund, which has its headquarters in the former Hoch- und Deutschmeister-Palais on Ringstrasse, was also the occasion for the donation and unveiling of the monument.

The OFID is an example for a number of international organizations which are located in Vienna besides the UN, such as OSCE, OPEC, European Fundamental Rights Agency EFRA, int. Organization for Migration Policy (ICMPD), 3 offices of the World Bank, etc.

The Danube-Oder Canal on the outskirts of Vienna near the Lobau is an ultimately failed project for the construction of a waterway to connect the Danube with the Oder. Of the 40km long canal originally planned in Austria, only the initial sections – starting from the Vienna tank farm – with a length of about 2.3km were realized in the 1930s and today serve as fishing grounds and bathing lakes for the local residents.

Ideas to build continuous European waterways for the transport of goods emerged as early as the late Middle Ages, and the first concrete plans were made in the 18th and 19th centuries with the advent of industrialization. At the beginning of the 20th century, a decision was made to plan and build the waterway, which was ready for construction from 1910, but was stopped by World War II. Under the Nazis, the construction of a 90m wide harbor basin and 4 canal sections (DOK I-IV) actually began from 1939, most of which are now in Lower Austria.

In the late 20th century, renewed thoughts about further construction were finally discarded for ecological reasons. The evaporation of the surface water leads to a lowering of the groundwater level and for the complete realization massive negative effects on existing nature reserves would have to be feared.