After the Anschluss of 1938, Austria was officially part of Germany's Third Reich. With the outbreak of the Second World War, the Nazis began a massive construction effort in many of their chief cities, building concrete bunkers to serve as air raid shelters, hospitals, administrative centers, radio towers and anti-aircraft turrets. Called hochbunkers, or high-rise bunkers, the installations were designed to be indestructible by any conventional armaments. Their concrete walls varied from 1 to 7 meters in thickness, and each had its own water and electrical supply as well as gas-proof ventilation system.

Here, the Monkey poses on a street leading to Arenberg Park, a residential square that received two of the six enormous towers the Germans built in Vienna in 1942 and 1943. You can see the hulking mass of one tower straight ahead.

Following the war, as Austria recovered its independence after a decade-long Allied occupation, Vienna's city planners were confronted with the difficult decision of what to do with the Nazi bunkers. Attempts to explode the towers yielded only surface cracks, and larger explosives were ruled out due to the proximity of the surrounding buildings. Over time, it was decided that the structures should be used as cultural centers. One now houses an aquarium and rock-climbing facility, while another has become a contemporary arts center. Plans are afoot to create an observation deck atop another tower. As a reminder of their original purpose, all of Vienna's so-called Flak Towers have had their wartime, drab exteriors preserved; on an architectural note, they can be viewed as unintended early examples of the Brutalist style that grew more popular in the 1960s and 1970s.

The Monkey examines another of Vienna's wartime hochbunkers in Arenberg Park.

Though his photo doesn't do it justice, the Monkey did enjoy a night out wining and dining in the bizarre Esterházykeller. Located in a back street of Vienna's Innere Stadt, this cavernous complex of tubular subterranean tunnels was once the wine cellar of the elite Esterházy family. It dates from the 17th Century and is an atmospheric place to throw down a bottle or two of Austrian wine.

Even trams need a place to sleep. Here, the Monkey visits one of Vienna's tram sidings. You can see the headlights of one tram that's about to go on duty inside one of the chutes.

You guessed it… The Monkey saves time on a Viennese tram. This way, he also saves his little monkey steps.

In a somewhat film noir-esque shot, the Monkey sits at the bottom of an escalator bank in one of the stations of the Viennese Metro. Vienna's six-line subway system is called the U-Bahn, and traces its roots back to 1898, when the Viennese Jugendstil architect Otto Wagner laid out a steam-powered, partially undergroud rail system called the Stadtbahn. Two of the present-day U-Bahn lines are extended, electrified versions of Wagner's Stadtbahn lines.

Home——Region Selector——Special Features——Monkey FAQ——Contact——Links

Copyright monkeytravel.org 2002-2005. The Monkey respects your right to use his photos for your personal, non-profit entertainment or for educational purposes.