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This striking Art Nouveau double staircase which winds its way down from Strudlhofgasse to Liechtensteinstrasse was designed by Theodor Jäger in 1910. Two fountains, chandeliers and various ramps create a graceful impression. It became famous in 1951 when the Austrian writer Heimito von Doderer published a novel named after the stairway.

Emanuel Schikander, a friend of Mozart, had this theatre built between 1798 and 1801 but only one year after its grand opening he went bankrupt and sold the building. The theatre has had a colourful history, changing owners many times, but saw great historic moments with the premiere of Beethoven’s Fidelio in 1805 and Johann Strauss’s operetta Die Fledermaus in 1874. The theatre closed down in 1938 but after World War II it staged state opera performances while the damaged Staatsoper was being repaired. Today it is owned by the City of Vienna and mainly used as a stage for musicals and occasional operas.

On the site of this élite school stood an imperial summer palace, until it was destroyed by Turkish troops in 1683. On its ruins the Italian architect Lodovico Burnacini built the Theresianum (1687–90). The long building with a sober façade was named after Empress Maria Theresa, who installed an educational institute here for young nobility. Today it is a private school and a diplomatic academy.

After Turkish troops failed to conquer Vienna in 1529, a 200,000 strong army under Kara Mustafa returned in 1683. The city was held under siege for three months, but with the help of Polish troops it was liberated in September 1683. Prince Eugen finally diminished the influence of the Ottoman Empire with his victory in Belgrade in 1717.

After Napoleon was defeated in Leipzig (1813), the European powers met in Vienna in 1814–15 to make territorial decisions and create a balance of power. The congress was attended by high-ranking delegates and accompanied by glamorous balls.

Vienna University was founded by Duke Rudolf IV in 1365 and today has around 60,000 students. The present building was constructed in Italian Renaissance style on a former army parade ground following plans by Heinrich Ferstel, and opened in 1884. From the entrance hall with marble columns, grand staircases lead to the lecture theatres and the library. The arcaded courtyard is lined with busts of distinguished professors and the university’s eight Nobel Prize winners. The ceremony hall is decorated with frescoes by Gustav Klimt (1895) showing the various faculties.

The Volkstheater (“people’s theatre”) was established in 1889 as a counterpart to the imperial Burgtheater (see p85). Its aim was to offer classic and modern drama to a larger audience at reasonable prices. Built by the acclaimed theatre architects Ferdinand Fellner and Hermann Helmer, the theatre was designed in Historicist style and fitted with what was then the latest technology and security measures, such as electric lighting. With just under 1,000 seats, the Volkstheater is among the largest German-language theatres in the world.

Next to the Majolika House is another of Otto Wagner’s Art Nouveau-style buildings. The six-storey house has a white plastered façade with beautiful golden stucco elements. Between the top row of windows are golden medallions with female heads, designed by Wagner’s fellow artist Koloman Moser (1868–1918). Golden palm leaves are spread above the medallions and peacock feathers underneath reach down to the windows below. Above the rounded corner with an iron-and-glass porch are statues of female “callers” by Othmar Schimkowitz (1864–1947). Some of the designs are from Wagner’s students who also became well-known architects, such as Josef Maria Olbrich, the Secession building’s architect.

More than three million people have been buried in this 6-acre cemetery since it opened in 1874, among them 500 Austrian politicians (there is a presidential crypt), composers and actors who were given honorary graves. Max Hegele, a student of Otto Wagner, designed the entrance portal (gate 2), the mortuary and the Dr-Karl-Lueger-Gedächtnis Kirche, named after a Vienna mayor (1897–1910). The church is among Vienna’s most important Art Nouveau buildings. Within the cemetery there are separate areas for followers of the Jewish, Islamic, Orthodox and Protestant faiths.