Donaustadt (literally Danube City) is the 22nd district of Vienna.
History
The former villages of Aspern and Essling are known as the place where Archduke Charles of Austria defeated Napoleon Bonaparte's French army in 1809 at the Battle of Aspern-Essling.The relatively young district (compared to the others, at least) was formed by a resolution of the Vienna Landtag on June 29, 1946. The resolution was supposed to restore the borders between Vienna and Lower Austria. But, due to the occupation by the Russians, the resolution could not immediately take effect. In 1954 the Russians finally accepted the proposal and the resolution took effect on July 2, 1954.
Geography
The Donaustadt district is in the northeast part of Vienna and is the largest of the districts in area, occupying about one-quarter of the Vienna city area. The district borders the 2nd district (Leopoldstadt), the 11th district (Simmering), and the 21st district (Floridsdorf) as well as parts of Lower Austria.The district is made up of eight territories (former villages), whose individual coats of arms make up the coat of arms for the whole district. The eight territories are:
In addition to these eight territories, Donaustadt also contains a ninth area, Donau City (officially part of Kaisermühlen), which is between the Alte Donau ("Old Danube") and Neue Donau ("New Danube"). It was constructed recently, consisting of many modern buildings and skyscrapers, of which most are containing offices. In addition, another area of Donaustadt, Lobau, contains a large forest and meadow. Altogether, about 59% of the district is greenery, which is 30% of all the green spaces in all of Vienna. The area went through a dramatic change as a result of the 1870–75 legislation Wiener Donauregulierung. Were the original Danube to branch out into its many arms, it would take up a considerable area. In order to control the danger of the Danube flooding over, a side channel was built parallel to the river, creating the Donauinsel.
Politics
| District Directors from 1945 | |
|---|---|
| Mathias Böhm (KPÖ) | 1945-1946 |
| Leopold Horacek (SPÖ) | 1946-1959 |
| Rudolf Köppl (SPÖ) | 1959-1977 |
| Rudolf Huber (SPÖ) | 1977-1981 |
| Albert Schultz (SPÖ) | 1981-1993 |
| Leopold Wedel (SPÖ) | 1993-1997 |
| Franz–Karl Effenberg (SPÖ) | 1998-2005 |
| Renate Winklbauer (SPÖ) | 2005- |
The Soviet occupation installed Communist Mathias Böhm as the first district director. Social democrat Leopold Horacek was the next one. Because the status of the district was ambiguous until 1954, public votes for director were not used. Horacek was confirmed by the first vote of the people in 1954, and until 1991, the SPÖ held about 55% of the popular vote. In 1996, the FPÖ's increasing popularity caused the SPÖ to lose the majority for the first time, when they gathered only 43% of the popular vote. In 2001, they regained the majority, claiming 54.25% of the vote. The FPÖ received 19.83%, the ÖVP had 11.83%, the Greens got 9.44%, and the Liberal Forum had 2.69%.
Sightseeing
- the Franzosenspeicher (French Warehouse) in Essling
- the UNO-City (United Nations building in Vienna) and the Austria Center Vienna
- the Danube Park and the Donauturm (Danube Tower)
- Donauzentrum (Vienna's largest shopping mall)
- Donauinsel (Danube Island)
- the Alte_Donau.jpg and the gaggling geese
- a part of Nationalpark Donau-Auen (Danube Meadow National Park)
See also
- Levent (Istanbul)
- Nishi-shinjuku (Tokyo)
- La Defense (Paris)
- Jersey City (New York City) Within metropolitan area
- Manhattan (New York City)
- City of London (London)
- Rosslyn, Virginia (Washington DC) Within metropolitan area
- Central, Hong Kong (Hong Kong)
- Pudong (Shanghai)
- Kirchberg, Luxembourg
See also
- Aspern Airfield Flughafen Aspern
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Last updated on Friday February 15, 2008 at 11:48:04 PST (GMT -0800)
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