Vienna’s Parks and Gardens department celebrates its 150th anniversary this year. Stadtpark, the oldest public park in the city, was opened on 21 August 1862.

Stadtpark was set up after Vienna’s city walls had been demolished and the Ringstrasse boulevard was built in their place around 1860. The park in the English landscape style was planned by the landscape painter Josef Selleny and the garden designer Rudolph Siebeck.
The Vienna Parks and Gardens department was also established in 1862. Today, a staff of 1700 is responsible for 880 parks and gardens the city.

Municipal orangery

In 1911/12 the Parks and Gardens authority erected an orangery in the 22nd district of Vienna. This was somewhat unusual mostly because orangeries, built to house sensitive plants in winter, used to be reserved to the nobility and the rich upper class. The orangery in Kagran was the first, and last, municipal building of this type. Today the art-deco building houses the Austrian Museum of Horticulture. With 30,000 historical exhibits – from tools to vehicles to plans and photos – it is the largest collection of its type in Austria.

Two-day celebration

The opening of Stadtpark in 1862 also is the founding date of Vienna’s Parks and Garden Department (MA 42). The 150-year anniversary is celebrated with a big open-air party with picnics and music in the park.
INFO: 16–17/Jun/2012. http://www.wien.gv.at/umwelt/parks/anlagen/stadtpark.html

Special exhibition

‘150 Years of Parks and Gardens in Vienna’ is also the name of a special exhibition at the Austrian Museum of Horticulture that runs until 7 October 2012. The venue itself also celebrates an anniversary: it was erected 100 years ago.
INFO: Austrian Museum of Horticulture. 22., Siebeckstraße 14.
www.wien.gv.at/umwelt/parks/gartenbaumuseum/