The museum buildings are twin, domed edifices in the Malian Itenaissance, and were completed in 1889. They are abundantly decorated with symbolic and portrait statuary, and in the in terior with new frescoes and marbles by great artists. The natural history collections, among the most famous in the world, date from 1748.
The equally celebrated art museum includes the art treasures of the Imperial House. In this sec tion is one of the principal military institu known as the Military Geographieal In stitute.
Southeast of the art museum, near the Ring. is the Schillerplatz, with Schilling's line bronze Schiller monument. The square is flanked on two sides by the Palace of Justice and the Academy of Art. The Goethe monument, by Belittler, is to the north. In the vicinity is the fine Elizabeth bridge (with statues) leading over the Wien to the southern suburb of Wieden. Adjacent, facing south on the river, in the nar row spare which from this point lies between the Wien and the Ringstrasse, are the Commercial Academy, the Kiinstlerhaus with a permanent exhibition of modern !dames, and the Renais sance building of the Alusikverein. In the last are the Vienna Conservatory of Alusie, with a musical library of over 20.000 works, and a mu seum.
In the district of Wieden is the Polytechnic Institution, with collections and a laboratory. Turning northeast from the Wieden district. along the exterior side of the Ring, we pass the Schwartzenberg monument, the Academic Gym nasimn, and the bronze statue of Beethoven erected in 1880. The charming little Park farther on has an attractive Kursalon. Here are the fine monuments to Schubert, by Kundmann, and to the painter Schindler, by Hellmer. Beyond are the Austrian Museum of Art and Industry and the Art Industrial School —both in sightly brick Renaissance edifices, em bellished with attractive features, and connected by a passageway. These institutions are models of their kind. Extensive quays along the Do naukanal. which is spanned in this section by the Aspern, Ferdinand, Stephanie, and Maria Theresa bridges, connect the extremities of the Ring.
East of the Wien, just above its mouth, stretches the Landstrasse district, with the cus tom-house, the central markets, the mint, the geological institution, the botanic garden, and the Metternich palace. South from this sec tion extends the Belvedere Garden, with a palace at either end. Immediately to the west are the
Schwarzenberg Palace and Gardens. The district northeast of the Danube Canal, opposite the old city, is the Leopoldstadt. Adjoining this section on the north is the Augarten Park, The main artery of the Leopoldstadt is the fine and broad Pratei'strasse, stretching northeast to Prater. The International Exhibition of 1S73 was held here.
Among ecclesiastical buildings not hitherto are the Karlskirche, erected in the eighteenth century by Fischer von Erlach, in the district of Wieden, and the Church of \1aria Stiegen (Maria am Gestade) in the inner city. dating from 1394. The inner city also contains the Church of Saint orig inally erected early in the thirteenth century. The Altlerchenfeld Church, in the district of Neubau, is a fine modern brick edifice, in the ltaiian mediaeval style. In the Leopoldstadt is the handsome modern Jewish synagogue, in the style. One of the most striking of secular buildings is the arsenal. in the south eastern section. with its fine army museum. Near it are the stations of the Southern and State railways. The finest railroad station is the Nordbahnhof, near the entrance to the Prater. Among places of burial, the large Central Ceme tery, with its line monuments, claims attention.
A new quarter of the city, called the Do nanstadt, has sprung up on both sides of the Danube. northeast of the Loopoldstadt, as a result of the Danube improvement works, which have provided a broad new channel for the river and done away with the inundations formerly so destructive. An even more tri umph of engineering skill was the recently (tom 0(.1(1 regulation of the Wien, which in the centre of the city now flows largely underground.
The environs of Vienna have much of interest and charm. On the northwest rise the Kahlen berg and time Leopoldsherg. whose snnunits, about 1400 feet above the sea, present an impressive view of mountains. city, and the Danube plain. A mountain railway leads to the top of the Kahlenberg. The historical Sehanbrunn Palace (q.v.) is on the southwest of the city. and the battlefields of Aspern and Wagram lie on the Barehfehl plain to the east, with the island of Lobau. South of the city is the picturesque Bruhl—a ravine converted into beautiful pleas ure grounds.