Gallitzinberg
Encyclopedia
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
. While it is relatively unconspicous in the broader context of the Northeastern end of the Wienerwald
Wienerwald
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 long and wide hill range is heavily wooded and a popular recreation area with the Viennese....
mountain range, it is nevertheless remarkable because of its multifaceted history, and because it functions as an important recreational area in the Western uphill part of the densely populated Ottakring
Ottakring
Ottakring is the 16th District in the city of Vienna, Austria . It is located west of the central districts, north of Penzing and south of Hernals. Ottakring has some heavily populated urban areas with many residential buildings...
district.
The Eastern slopes of the Gallitzinberg are dominated by mansions that date from the 19th or early 20th century, and are among the best residential areas of Vienna.
Origin of the name
The name Gallitzinberg traces to Prince Dmitri Mikhailovich GalitzinGalitzine
For Orthodox clergyman and theologian, see Alexander Golitzin.The Galitzines are one of the largest and noblest princely houses of Russia. Since the extinction of the Korecki family in the 17th century, the Golitsyns have claimed dynastic seniority in the House of Gediminas...
, a Russian ambassador to Vienna who in 1780 acquired forested real estate from Field Marshal Count Franz Moritz von Lacy
Franz Moritz von Lacy
Graf Franz Moritz von Lacy , , was the son of Count Peter von Lacy and a famous Austrian field marshal. He served Maria Theresia, was a close friend to Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, and became one of his advisers...
, situated uphill and West of what was then the small village of Ottakring. Originally the area had been named Predigtstuhl which, literally translated, means “preachers' seat”. This refers to a religious procession which during the 18th century was held annually on May 1, and concluded with a mass held at an ancient oak tree.
A 19th century owner, Duke Moritz de Montléart, gave the estate to his wife Wilhelmine Montléart-Sachsen-Curland. This authorities refused his wish to have the mountain officially renamed Wilhelminenberg, but his subsequent efforts to establish the name in colloquial use were successful. The local population now uses the terms Wilhelminenberg and Gallitzinberg synonymously, occasionally along with the old name, Predigtstuhl.
Significant buildings
Konrad Lorenz
Konrad Zacharias Lorenz was an Austrian zoologist, ethologist, and ornithologist. He shared the 1973 Nobel Prize with Nikolaas Tinbergen and Karl von Frisch...
Institute for Ethology
Ethology
Ethology is the scientific study of animal behavior, and a sub-topic of zoology....
, now managed by the Austrian Academy of Sciences
Austrian Academy of Sciences
The Austrian Academy of Sciences is a legal entity under the special protection of the Federal Republic of Austria. According to the statutes of the Academy its mission is to promote the sciences and humanities in every respect and in every field, particularly in fundamental research...
. The founder of ethology, Irenäus Eibl-Eibesfeldt
Irenäus Eibl-Eibesfeldt
Irenäus Eibl-Eibesfeldt is founder of the field of human ethology. In authoring the book which bears that title, he applied ethology to humans by studying them in a perspective more common to volumes studying animal behavior....
worked here as a research associate from 1946 to 1948 when it was still the private Biological Station Wilhelminenberg. Immediately next to it is the Research Institute for Wildlife Ecology which belongs to the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna
University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna
The University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna was founded in 1767 as the world's third school for veterinary medicine by Milan's Ludovico Scotti, originally named k. k. Pferde-Curen- und Operationsschule . Today, it has c...
. Further to the South and downhill are the Kuffner observatory
Kuffner observatory
The Kuffner observatory is one of two telescope-equipped public observatories situated in Austria's capital, Vienna. It is situated in the West of the city's Ottakring district, on the slope of the Gallitzinberg at 302 m altitude...
which offers the public opportunities for stargazing; and where the hill rolls eastward into the basin of Vienna one finds the Wilhelminenspital, one of Vienna's major hospitals. Also of note is the Liebhartstaler Bockkeller, originally a restaurant in the vicinity of Ottakring's cemetery (which in itself is a remarkable feature of the Gallitzinberg slope) and today a home to a congregation dedicated to Viennese traditional music
Traditional music
Traditional music is the term increasingly used for folk music that is not contemporary folk music. More on this is at the terminology section of the World music article...
.
At the summit of the Gallitzinberg is an observation tower
Observation tower
An observation tower is a structure used to view events from a long distance and to create a full 360 degree range of vision. They are usually at least tall and made from stone, iron, and wood. Many modern towers are also used as TV towers, restaurants, or churches...
which in 1956 replaced an older steel construction that had been erected in 1899 in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of emperor Franz Joseph I
Franz Joseph I of Austria
Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I was Emperor of Austria, King of Bohemia, King of Croatia, Apostolic King of Hungary, King of Galicia and Lodomeria and Grand Duke of Cracow from 1848 until his death in 1916.In the December of 1848, Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria abdicated the throne as part of...
's ascendancy to the Austrian throne. Therefore the present tower is still colloquially known as the Jubiläumswarte (“jubilee tower”). Its topmost platform, 31 meters above ground, offers an impressive panorama of Vienna. On very clear days one can see for more than 60 kilometers, to the Slovak Little Carpathians
Little Carpathians
The Little Carpathians are a low, about 100 km long, mountain range, part of the Carpathian Mountains. The mountains are situated in Western Slovakia, covering the area from Bratislava to Nové Mesto nad Váhom, a very small part called Hundsheimer Berge is situated south of Devín Gate in...
beyond the city in the East, and to the Schneeberg
Schneeberg (Alps)
The Schneeberg, with its 2076 m-high summit Klosterwappen, is the highest mountain of Lower Austria, and the easternmost 2000 m-high mountain in the Alps. It is a distinctive limestone massif with steep slopes on three sides....
, Lower Austria's highest mountain, in the South. Next to the tower it is a small facility dedicated to the education of Vienna's schoolchildren in the fundamentals of forest biology. Also in the immediate vicinity, but with few remains visible above ground, is the legacy of the Gaugefechtsstand Wien
Gaugefechtsstand Wien
The Gaugefechtsstand Wien was a World War II subterranean command bunker situated in the densely forested Wienerwald western parts of Ottakring, the 16th district of Vienna...
, a Wehrmacht command and control bunker which during the later years of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
coordinated air alarms and aerial defense for Vienna and its surroundings.