Austria is a land of mountains, yes? Well, no, there is more to it than that, such as Vienna’s Museums, Melk Abbey, Hitler in Linz, Mozart’s birthplace in Salzburg, the Sigmund Freud Museum, Gustav Klimt’s art, Ars Electronica, Arnold Schwarzenegger home town, the Graz clock tower and Sound of Music tours. Here are some facts for visitors and tourist information for those travelling to Austria.
Austria tourist information & facts: Vienna Museums
The Kaisergruft, or Imperial Vault, is home to the coffin of Empress Elizabeth (or Sissi), who was stabbed in Geneva in 1898.
The Leopold Museum is stacked with Schiele, Klimt and Kokoscha paintings.
The Sigmund Freud museum is in the former home of the great psychologist.
Austria tourist information & facts: Melk Abbey
The incredible Melk abbey (or Stift Melk) has been home to monks since the 11th century and it was where the famous movie The Name of The Rose was filmed.
Austria tourist information & facts: Hitler in Linz
The city of Linz has an unfortunate claim to fame – it was where Adolf Hitler was born. The city has chosen to deal with its most famous son in the only way possible – completely ignoring him. Instead it concentrates on art and technologoy. The Lentos Kunstmuseum contains great artworks by Gustav Klimt, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol. The Ars Electronica centre, on the other hand, is a big hit with the kids with its virtual reality simulations and hi-tech displays.
Austria tourist information & facts: Graz clock tower
The medieval clock tower in Graz – Austria’s second largest city – is the crowning glory of the Schlossberg (castle hill). There is also a bell tower and garrison museum that can be found in the same spot. Of course, the main reason that the city is known is for its most famous son – Terminator and True Lies star Arnold Schwarzenegger was born there.
Austria tourist information & facts: Mozart in Salzburg
Despite professing to hate the city and moving away as soon as possible, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg, and the city isn’t about to let you forget about it. You can visit his Geburtshaus (birthplace) and Wohnhaus (residence), the latter of which hosts the Mozart Sound and Film Museum.
Salzburg is also home to another famous musical offering – The Sound of Music. Fans of Julie Andrews singing Do-Re-Mi, Edelweiss and Lonely Goatherd can even go on a Sound of Music tour with various tour companies and operators.
