Facts about Austria

Facts about Austria

Austria is a Central European country with a total size of 83,858 square kilometers. Population of Austria is about 8,2 million with about 93% speaking German and 73% regarding themselves as Roman Catholic. Austria has a diverse ethnic mix of six officially recognized groups; Croats, Turks, Czechs, Hungarians, Slovaks and Slovenes. German name for Austria is Osterreich which means the "Eastern Empire".  Austria is not only famous as having one of the world’s best skiing resorts on the Alps but also for its historical buildings, premium museums and galleries, magnificent scenery, great mountains and adventurous hiking trails. Visitors in search of culture, visitors in search of scenery and visitors in search of recreational activities prefer Austria. Other than its natural wealth, Austria contains numerous and glorious architectural attractions, including many reminders of the great Hapsburg Dynasty, who dominated central Europe for seven centuries.

Politics in Austria

Austria is a Federal Republic and is divided into 9 federal provinces (Bundeslander);

Vienna (Wien)
Lower Austria (Niederösterreich)
Upper Austria (Oberösterreich)
Salzburg
Carinthia (Karnten)
Tyrol (Tirol)
Vorarlberg
Styria (Steiermark)
Burgenland

Austria is a member of the European Union and has signed the Schengen Agreement for a common policy on border controls. Austria is also a member of the United Nations and the NATO.

Geography of Austria

Austria’s highest point is Mount Grossglocker (3,800 meters) and its lowest point is Lake Neusiedler See (115 meters). Austria’s neighbours are: Germany, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovenia, Italy, Liechtenstein and Switzerland. Austria is landlocked and has no access to the sea. The biggest river in Austria is the Danube river.

Weather in Austria

Austria has a moderate continental climate featuring all four main seasons: spring, autumn, summer and winter. Summers are usually warm and pleasant with cooler nights, winters are rainy with frequent snowfalls. The weather in Austria is changeable throughout the year. However, in summer rainfalls are usually heavy and has a short duration. Winters are rather cold in the Northeast Austria and can be heated up by the foehn winds (a warm and dry wind, especially in Vienna) in some valleys in the Alps of Austria.

Did you know that....?

• German name for Austria is Österreich which means "Eastern Empire". This refers to the time when Austria was a part of the Holy Roman Empire.
• Austria's highest peak is the Grossglockner - which means the "great bell".
• The Pasterze Glacier, one of Europe's largest glaciers, is in the Austrian Alps
• Austria's largest natural lake is Lake Neusiedler.
• Austria's United Nations World Heritage sites are the Ferto/Neusiedler Lake area, the Hallstatt-Dachstein Salzkammergut Cultural Landscape and the Wachau stretch of the Danube Valley.
• The Semmering Railway, between Gloggnitz in the State of Lower Austria (Niederosterreich) and Simmering in the State of Styria, was inscribed on the UN World Heritage List in 1998. The railway built over mountains in this region in the mid of the 19th century was one of the greatest civil engineering works of its time.
• In 1991 a mummified body (a male body named Otzi) from the Stone Age was found in the glacier of the Otztal Alps between Austria and Italy. Tattoos, probably made for medical purposes, were found on the body of Otzi.
• Over 150 temples, built between 5000 BC and 4600 BC, have been discovered beneath the countryside and cities of Austria, Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary.
• Salt (salz in German) was mined at Salzburg and Hallstatt from the early Iron Age.
• In 1192 Leopold V the Austrian ruler held the English King Richard, known as "the Lion Heart", as captive, until payment of a ransom.
• In the 16th century the Austrian Empire included Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Netherlands, Hungary, Spain, Spanish American colonies and parts of Italy and former Yugoslavia.
• In 1683 the Polish King, saved Vienna from an Ottoman siege. When the Ottomans left, a large amount of coffee was found in the Ottoman supplies. This led to the establishment of the first coffee house in Vienna.
• Marie-Antoinette, the wife of France's King Louis XVI, was the daughter of Marie Theresa of the Hapsburg dynasty of Austria.
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the great composer, was born in Salzburg in 1756.
• Vienna, the capital of the Austrian Empire, was Europe's musical center.
• Gregor Johann Mendel, an Austrian biologist and botanist, established the basics of modern genetics in Austria.
• Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), the famous psychologist and the father of modern day psychology and psychoanalysis, became a professor at the University of Vienna in 1902.
• During the early 20th century Alfred Adler contributed to the foundations of modern psychology.
• The 1st World War (1914-18) broke out after the assassination in Sarajevo of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the Habsburg heir to the Austrian Hungarian throne.
• Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) was born in the city of Braunau am Inn, Austria.
• Arnold Schwarzenegger was born in Thal in Austria, very close to Graz. In 2003 Arnold Schwarzenegger became the 38th Governor of California in USA.