11 Best Sights in Vienna, Austria

Not far from the historic Hofburg district, the marvels and pains of the 20th century come into focus here at the the former practice and private quarters of the father of psychoanalysis. The museum outlines Sigmund Freud's work and peronal life, as well as his impact on the world of psychology via memorabilia, private letters, biographical details, photos, films, and a library, It's housed in the apartment where Freud and his wife lived from 1891--1938 and raised their six children. The waiting-room furniture is original but the consulting room and study furniture (including the famous couch) can be seen only in photographs. The collection of telegrams (photocopies of the originals) from the State Department is chilling; they chronicle frantic efforts to help the Freud family escape Austria after the Nazi Anschluss in 1938.

To see one of Vienna's most architecturally intriguing buildings, travel eastward from Schwedenplatz or Julius-Raab-Platz along Radetzkystrasse. Here you'll find the Hundertwasserhaus, a 52-apartment public-housing complex designed by the late Austrian avant-garde artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser, arguably Austria's most significant postmodernist artist. The complex looks like a colorful patchwork of gingerbread houses strung precariously together, and was highly criticized when it opened in 1985. Time heals all wounds, even imaginary assaults to the senses, and now the structure is a beloved thread of the Viennese architectural tapestry. It is across the street from the city's beloved Kunsthaus Wien, which also sprang from Hundertwasser's imagination.

The most popular composer of all, waltz king Johann Strauss the Younger, composed the "Blue Danube Waltz"—Austria's unofficial national anthem—at this house in 1867. Standing in the huge salon of this belle-epoque building, you can well imagine what a sumptuous affair a Strauss soirée would have been. Artifacts include Strauss's Amati violin.

The vast and macabre museum is entirely devoted to Viennese murders of the most gruesome kind. The most grisly displays are, appropriately situated in the cellar. Murderers and their victims are depicted in photos and newspaper clippings, and many of the actual instruments used in the killings are displayed, axes seeming to be the most popular. It also traces the penal system of the Middle Ages through displays of historial documents as well as objects used to execute and torture people. The museum is housed in the "soap-boiler house," one of the oldest and most spectacular buildings in Leopoldstadt and is across the Danube Canal from Schwedenplatz, about a 15-minute walk from the core of the Innere Stadt (or the Inner City/City Center).

In 1911 Adolf Loos built the Looshaus on imposing Michaelerplatz, facing the Imperial Palace, and it was considered nothing less than an architectural declaration of war. After 200 years of Baroque and neo-Baroque exuberance, the first generation of 20th-century architects had had enough. Loos led the revolt; Ornament and Crime was the title of his famous manifesto, in which he inveighed against the conventional architectural wisdom of the 19th century. He advocated buildings that were plain, honest, and functional. The city was scandalized by Looshaus. Emperor Franz Josef, who lived across the road, was so offended that he ordered the curtains of his windows to remain permanently shut. Today the building has lost its power to shock, and the facade seems quite innocuous. The interior remains a breathtaking surprise; the building now houses a bank, and you can go inside to see the stylish chambers and staircase. To really get up close and personal with Loos, head to the splendor of his Loos American Bar, about six blocks east at No. 10 Kärntnerdurchgang.

The apartment houses that line the Wienzeile are an attractive, if rather ordinary, lot, but two stand out: Linke Wienzeile 38 and 40—the latter better known as the "Majolica House"—designed (1898–1899) by the grand old man of Viennese fin-de-siècle architecture, Otto Wagner. A good example of what Wagner was rebelling against can be seen next door, at Linke Wienzeile 42, where decorative enthusiasm has blossomed into Baroque-revival hysteria. Wagner banished classical decoration and introduced a new architectural simplicity, with flat exterior walls and plain, regular window treatments meant to reflect the orderly layout of the apartments behind them. There the simplicity ended. For exterior decoration, he turned to his younger Secessionist cohorts Joseph Olbrich and Koloman Moser, who designed the ornate Jugendstil patterns of red-majolica-tile roses (No. 40) and gold stucco medallions (No. 38) that gloriously brighten the facades of the adjacent house—so much so that their Baroque-period neighbor is ignored. The houses are privately owned.

Mozart and his sister Nannerl performed here as children for Count Ferdinand during their first visit to Vienna in 1762. The palace, next door to Palais Ferstel, was altered after 1845 and severely damaged during World War II. Some of the state rooms have lost their historical luster, but the Marble Room, set with gilt boiseries, and the Red Gallery, topped with a spectacular ceiling painting, provide grand settings for receptions.

Unlike most of Vienna's composers, Schubert was a native of Vienna. The modest but charming two-story house was not as idyllic then as it is today. When Schubert was born, it was home to 16 families who were crammed into as many studio apartments within the house. Many of the composer's personal items are displayed here, including his spectacles, which he allegedly didn't remove to sleep, as he was so anxious to begin composing as soon as he woke up.

This doorway (up the incline) was made famous in 1949 by the classic film The Third Man. It was here that Orson Welles, as the malevolently knowing Harry Lime, stood hiding in the dark, only to have his smiling face illuminated by a sudden light from the upper-story windows of the house across the alley. To get to this apartment building from the nearby Schottenkirche, follow Teinfaltstrasse one block west to Schreyvogelgasse on the right.

This Tyrolean-style building to the west of the Gloriette was a favorite retreat of Empress Elisabeth; it now includes a restaurant.

Beethoven lived in the Pasqualatihaus multiple times between 1804 and 1815, including while he was composing his only opera, Fidelio. He also composed his Seventh Symphony and Fourth Piano Concerto when this was his home. Today this small apartment houses a commemorative museum (in distressingly modern style). After navigating the narrow and twisting stairway, you might well ask how he maintained the jubilant spirit of the works he wrote there. Note particularly the prints that show what the window view out over the Mölker bastion was like when Beethoven lived here, and the current view too—it's a fantastic fourth-floor look out onto the Ringstrasse.