Page 89 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide 2016 - Austria

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St Mary, Our Lady of street market, held on the first
Perpetual Succour, built weekend of each month and
in the late 17th century prior to Christmas. Among the
on the site of an older stalls with wood carvings, tie-
church, but was not dyed fabrics and silver jewellery,
consecrated until 1730. waiters from the local bars
Its façade is an austere negotiate the busy crowds; there
pyramidal structure, are some 58 bars in this small
rising to a bulbous area, which contains just 138
steeple, and there are houses. The number of bars
lively Rococo reliefs set may change from one week
in its walls. In front of to the next, but the bustling,
the church stands a festive party atmosphere can
monu ment to the be experienced almost every
composer Joseph Haydn evening. The Spittelberg area
(see p28), who lived at also comprises small art
this address for 12 years. galleries, and artists display
Mariahilfer Strasse their work in the restaurants.
No. 45 is the longest At one time, attractive bar
and most famous maids offered “additional
Schiele’s Kneeling Female Nude (1910), Museum of double-exit house services”, and legend has it that
Modern Art, MuseumsQuartier in Vienna, the birth- Emperor Joseph II once decided
place in 1790 of the to explore the Spittelberg district
seminars, as well as Austria’s popular Austrian playwright for himself. However, when, in
first centre for museum and Ferdinand Raimund. disguise, he entered the Witwe
exhibition studies. Children Bolte (Widow Bolte) restaurant,
can play, explore and learn o Spittelberg still open today, he was uncere-
about a variety of subjects in moniously thrown out.
the ZOOM Kindermuseum, Map 1 C5. % Volkstheater. v 49. Nos. 18 and 20 Spittelberggasse
an unconven tional centre. @ 48A. Amerlinghaus: Stiftgasse 8. are fine Baroque houses.
Amid this extraordinary Tel 52 36 475. Open during events. ( The beautifully restored
cultural setting, numerous ∑ amerlinghaus.at Amerlinghaus, in which the
cafés, bars, green spaces, painter Friedrich Amerling
shops and bookstores invite Spittelberg is the oldest and most (1803–87) was born, is now
visitors to relax. colourful part of the elegant 7th a cultural and community
District. In the 17th century, the centre, and a restaurant.
cluster of streets between A little further along, between
i Mariahilfer Siebensterngasse and Burggasse, Siebensterngasse and Mariahilfer
Strasse around Spittelberggasse, was Strasse, is an enclosed area
Vienna’s first immigrant worker around former barracks now
Map 4 A1, B1. % Westbahnhof, district. Its inhabitants were housing the Military Academy,
Zieglergasse, Neubaugasse, mainly craftsmen, merchants and the Stiftkirche, topped with
MuseumsQuartier. @ 2A, 13A. and servants from Croatia and an onion-shaped cupola, which
Hungary, brought here to work serves as a garrison church.
Mariahilfer Strasse is one of at the court. Today, the district’s Its walls are lined with very
the longest streets in Vienna, crafts heritage lives on in the expressive Rococo reliefs.
a main artery running west
from the town centre to the
area around Schönbrunn.
The part between
Getreidemarkt (Grain Market)
and Westbahnhof (the Western
Railway Station) is also the
busiest shopping street in this
part of the city. Here you will
find Vienna’s largest department
stores and its best window
displays. Shopping tends to
be better value here than in
Kärntner Strasse, but is still
more costly than in Meidling
or Favoriten, for instance.
Mariahilfer Strasse took its
name from the church of Community centre in Amerlinghaus, Spittelberg

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