Austria

Austria: capital Vienna, population 9.2M, area 83,871 km². The 97th most populous country, in Europe. Facts, map, neighbours and more.

Austria appears as Ostarrîchi in a document of 996 and became a duchy under the Privilegium Minus in 1156. Vienna later hosted the Congress that reorganized Europe after Napoleon, and the 1955 State Treaty restored Austrian sovereignty. Between those dates came Mozart's unfinished Requiem, Freud's slow-selling first edition, the Semmering Railway's 14 tunnels and a coffeehouse culture where, as the official description says, only the coffee appears on the bill.

• The name Ostarrîchi, meaning ‘eastern realm,’ first appeared in a document dated 1 November 996 for lands around Neuhofen an der Ybbs.
• On 17 September 1156, Frederick Barbarossa's Privilegium Minus raised the Austrian frontier march to a hereditary duchy ruled by the Babenbergs.
• The Congress of Vienna met from September 1814 to June 1815 under Klemens von Metternich's chairmanship to negotiate Europe's post-Napoleonic order.
• Signed at Vienna's Belvedere Palace on 15 May 1955, the Austrian State Treaty re-established the country as a sovereign state and took effect that July.

• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed more than 800 works, began performing as a child and died at 35 in 1791, leaving his Requiem unfinished.
• Sigmund Freud's The Interpretation of Dreams appeared in 1899 but carried a 1900 date; its first 600 copies took eight years to sell.
• In December 1938, Lise Meitner and Otto Frisch explained the splitting of uranium atoms; their February 1939 paper named the process nuclear fission.
• Hedy Lamarr and George Antheil patented a frequency-hopping guidance system during World War II; similar technology entered operational systems only in 1962, after their patent had expired.

• Schönbrunn Palace contains 1,441 rooms; the imperial complex and gardens record more than three centuries of Habsburg tastes, ceremonies and daily life.
• Built from 1848 to 1854, the Semmering Railway crosses difficult Alpine terrain through 14 tunnels and 16 viaducts while remaining part of Austria's operating rail network.
• Eisriesenwelt runs for more than 42 kilometres inside the Hochkogel mountain near Werfen, making it the world's largest known ice cave system.
• Vienna's 64.75-metre Riesenrad was built in 1897 and remained the tallest surviving Ferris wheel from 1920 until 1985.

• Viennese Coffee House Culture entered Austria's intangible-heritage inventory in October 2011, described as a place where time and space are consumed but only coffee appears on the bill.
• Records first name Vienna's Spanish Riding School in 1565; its riders preserve classical dressage with Lipizzaner horses in the Hofburg's Winter Riding School.
• Founded in 1920, the Salzburg Festival runs for five weeks from late July, with Mozart opera and an annual performance of Hugo von Hofmannsthal's Jedermann.
• Emperor Joseph II's decree of 17 August 1784 let residents sell wine and juice they produced themselves, establishing the legal basis for the Heuriger tavern.

What is the capital of Austria?

The capital of Austria is Vienna.

What is the population of Austria?

Austria has about 9.2M people — the 97th most populous country in the world.

How big is Austria?

Austria covers 83,871 km², making it the 113th largest country by area.

Which region is Austria in?

Austria is in Central Europe, Europe.