Taking on district 22, Donaustadt, was quite a task considering it is the largest district in Vienna with 8 “villages” inside. We decided to explore this district because of an interest in UN activities and out of the curiosity to know what else there was to see in this massive district.
Taking the U-Bahn puts you right in the city. Immediately the most striking feature was the somewhat out of place architecture. Unlike buildings found in the Viennese Innenstadt, the UNO city has completely modernized architecture. Construction began in 1973 and some are still being added onto now. There is no “old-world” feel, it is instead a cold feeling that is strengthened by the official nature that comes from it being a governmental district.
Aerial Shot of UNO city. Since this picture has been taken, construction of a giant skyscraper on the left side has begun.
If you continue through the city, a large park, Donau park, resides on the other side of the main UN facilities. Situated right next to the river, the park has many open fields, walkways, children’s playtoys, and of course the Donauturm. The weather was cloudy and gray when we visited, but it seems like a perfect place to spend the day when the weather consistently gets nicer. Throughout the park, there are small memorials to important people in history and other interesting architectural features. There is also a small little Chinese village which is host to a traditional Chinese restaurant.
We were unable to gain access to the main front entrance of the UN, which has the flags of all UN member states on display. In order to do so, we would have needed to go on a tour and pass through security, which we will be doing anyway in the future. Besides the park and the main UN offices, the rest of the district is primarily nicer residential housing for UN employees and other residents of Vienna. We would recommend that others check out the Donau park on a nice day to go for a walk, do any number of activities in the large open field space, or play on children’s toys.
The front entrance of the UN. We did not go in, but we will get the chance in later weeks.
Stacie bungee jumping from Donauturm.
Adam & Stacie
ReplyDeleteAs I went to Budapest last weekend, what I saw in Vienna along the Douna River reminder me about the architecture style in Budapest along that. It seems that buildings along the Douna River in Veinna are more modern than that in Budapest. Most sight spots in Vienna are in innerstadt and those sight spots are always close the churches. Compare to those sight spots in innerstadt, Vienna Internal Centre is way younger. UNO (United Nation Office) city and Austria Center Vienna are two important part of VIC. It was designed by an Austria Architect named Johann Stabe and it attract many firms like Bank of Austria and Tech Gate Vienna. Thousands of people worked in that area. Instead of seeing these modern architectures in Vienna along Douna River, architectures in Budapest along same river are more traditional, like the Budapest Parliament, the Chain Bridge and the Fishermen’s Bastion. Personal, tradition European architecture style is more attractive.
Taking a short trip to Vienna UNO city in the afternoon when the weather is good is kind nice. UNO city is located in the Douna Insel. The architecture style here is a little different from that in Vienna city center. As Stacie and Adam said the architectures are really different from the inner stadt’s around the Stephansplatz. All the buildings here are tall and with glass wall. As soon as we arrive there, I feel I am so tiny inside of these Skyscrapers. We try to get into the Andromeda tower, probably the highest building of the UNO city, to take a overlook of the whole UNO city, but when we went into the gate, the officer there do not allow us to get in, because the building is for business not for visiting. From the road sign, we found there is a church in the UNO city. We walked around but only found a modern black architecture, which seems like a church, because it has a white cross on the wall. It is closed, so we cannot go inside to figure out whether it is a church or not.
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