Vienna

=== Enlargement ===
The heart and historical city of Vienna, a large part of today's [[Innere Stadt]], was a fortress surrounded by fields to defend itself from potential attackers. In 1850, Vienna with the consent of the emperor annexed 34 surrounding villages,<ref>[[Felix Czeike]]: ''Historisches Lexikon Wien'', volume 5, Kremayr & Scheriau, Vienna 1997, {{ISBN|3-218-00547-7}}, p. 289</ref> called Vorstädte, into the city limits (districts no. 2 to 8, after 1861 with the separation of Margareten from Wieden no. 2 to 9). Consequently, the walls were razed after 1857,<ref>Decision of Emperor Franz Joseph I, published in the official newspaper ''Wiener Zeitung'' on 25 December 1857, p. 1</ref> making it possible for the city center to expand.

In their place, a broad boulevard called the {{lang|de|[[Vienna Ring Road|Ringstraße]]|italic=no}} was built, along which imposing public and private buildings, monuments, and parks were created by the start of the 20th century. These buildings include the [[Vienna City Hall|Rathaus]] (town hall), the [[Burgtheater]], the [[University of Vienna|University]], the [[Imperial Council (Austria)|Parliament]], the twin museums of [[Natural History Museum, Vienna|natural history]] and [[Kunsthistorisches Museum|fine art]], and the [[Vienna State Opera|Staatsoper]]. It is also the location of New Wing of the [[Hofburg]], the former imperial palace, and the Imperial and Royal War Ministry finished in 1913. The mainly [[gothic architecture|Gothic]] [[St. Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna|Stephansdom]] is located at the center of the city, on [[Stephansplatz, Vienna|Stephansplatz]]. The Imperial-Royal Government set up the Vienna City Renovation Fund (Wiener Stadterneuerungsfonds) and sold many building lots to private investors, thereby partly financing public construction works.

[[File:Ringlinien08.JPG|thumb|right|The Ring Road (Ringstraße) with a historical tram]]

From 1850 to 1890, city limits in the West and the South mainly followed another wall called ''[[Linienwall]]'' at which a [[Road toll (historical)|road toll]] called the ''[[Liniengeld]]'' was charged. Outside this wall from 1873 onwards a [[ring road]] called [[Gürtel, Vienna|Gürtel]] was built. In 1890 it was decided to integrate 33 suburbs (called Vororte) beyond that wall into Vienna by 1 January 1892<ref name="Czeike">Czeike, volume 5, p. 290</ref> and transform them into districts no. 11 to 19 (district no. 10 had been constituted in 1874); hence the Linienwall was torn down beginning in 1894.<ref>Czeike, volume 4, Vienna 1995, {{ISBN|3-218-00546-9}}, p. 69</ref> In 1900, district no. 20, Brigittenau, was created by separating the area from the 2nd district.

From 1850 to 1904, Vienna had expanded only on the eastern bank of the Danube, following the main branch before the regulation of 1868–1875, i.e., the Old Danube of today. In 1904, the 21st district was created by integrating Floridsdorf, Kagran, Stadlau, Hirschstetten, Aspern and other villages on the left bank of the Danube into Vienna, in 1910 Strebersdorf followed. On 15 October 1938 the Nazis created Great Vienna with 26 districts by merging 97 towns and villages into Vienna, 80 of which were returned to surrounding [[Lower Austria]] in 1954.<ref name="Czeike" /> Since then Vienna has had 23 districts.

Industries are located mostly in the southern and eastern districts. The [[Innere Stadt]] is situated away from the main flow of the [[Danube]], but is bounded by the ''[[Donaukanal]]'' ("Danube canal"). Vienna's second and twentieth districts are located between the Donaukanal and the Danube. Across the Danube, where the Vienna International Center is located (districts 21–22), and in the southern areas (district 23) are the newest parts of the city.