Vienna, Austria: Swiss Gate

All right, it's only a gate. But it's a nice old gate. 

It's the entrance to the Hofburg Palace, and it was built in 1552/1553. How many gates are closing in on 500 years of age? And it still looks mighty good at this stage. 

This is known in non-English circles as the Schweizertor. The Swiss provided the guards in the 18th century, which was unusual enough to help the gate get its name. On top is the crest of Emperor Ferdinand I. His name is part of the crest, while the construction dates are there too.

I've read that this was the first of two emperors named Ferdinand in Austria's history. He ran the Holy Roman Empire at the time of construction. The other was the head of the Austrian Empire, and he was in charge around 1800. That must have confused Austrian school kids for generations.

Vienna, Austria

There are worse places to be than Vienna on a summer day.

It certainly ranks as one of the great cities of Europe. Lots of architecture, history, public art, etc. are available for visitors. You can almost hear the music in the background when walking around.

About a third of Austria's population lives around Vienna - 2.6 million in the metro area. It's been a popular place ever since it was founded a few years more than 2,000 years ago. Vienna was the setting for the Congress of Vienna in 1814-15, which brought to an end - more or less - about a quarter-century of nearly non-stop fighting in Europe. Peace was more or less in place for about 100 years, so although it wasn't a perfect deal it clearly had some good points.

The list of famous people born in Vienna is a long and diverse one: Marie Antoinette, Niki Lauda, Johann Strauss, Milton Bradley, Joseph Haydn, and Franz Schubert. At one point in 1913, the following lived in Vienna in the same part of town: Adolf Hitler, Leon Trotsky, Joseph Tito, Sigmund Freud and Joseph Stalin.

Let's look around a bit:



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