10 Interesting Facts: Vienna
- The Economist named Vienna as the world’s most livable city in 2018.
- The first evidence we have of the name “Wenia” dates back to 881 CE.
- Vienna was home to Mozart, Beethoven and Sigmund Freud, which is where it gets its nickname The City of Dreams and The City of Music.
- Over 450 Viennese balls occur every year.
- Vienna’s Tiergarten Schönbrunn, opened in 1752, is the world’s oldest zoo.
- UNESCO added Viennese coffee houses to their Intangible Cultural Heritage list.
- Vienna’s Imperial Treasury houses the world’s largest emerald (it weighs 3,000 carats!).
- PEZ candy was invented in Vienna in 1927.
- Viennese scientist Erwin Perzy I accidentally invented the snow globe in the year 1900, and now you can visit the Snow Globe Museum run by his grandson.
- While we attribute the croissant to the French, Vienna’s kipferl pastry actually came first! It dates back to the 13th century
