Vienna. Portrait of a City

Explore a city of architectural splendor, ubiquitous history, and incomparable heritage of art, design, and music. This collection brings together hundreds of photographs from the last 175 years to trace the history of Vienna; from imperial city to modern metropolis, from major landmarks to tucked-away treasures, and from the flowering of the fin de siècle to the Cold War.

“This colourful book celebrates the emergence of today’s metropolis – one of the most attractive cities in Europe, in which rich history once again coexists with international flair and vibrant contemporary culture.”

Andreas J. Hirsch, born 1961 in Vienna, is an author, curator and artistic photographer. His writings include books on Pablo Picasso, Tina Modotti, Friedensreich Hundertwasser and HR Giger. From 2009 to 2014, he was curator at the KunstHausWien and organized exhibitions on Henri Cartier-Bresson, Linda McCartney and HR Giger, among others. Christian Brandstätter (1943–2024) founded Brandstätter Verlag in 1982. He was the author and designer of numerous illustrated books, including groundbreaking publications on Vienna around 1900, including Gustav Klimt und die Frauen (1994), Design der Wiener Werkstätte (2003), and Wien 1900: Kunst Design Architektur Mode (2018), as well as on Austrian photographic history. Hans-Michael Koetzle, born 1953, is a Munich-based freelance author and journalist, focusing mainly on history and the aesthetics of photography. He has published numerous books on photography, including Die Zeitschrift twen (1995), Photo Icons (2001), Das Lexikon der Fotografen (2002), René Burri (2004), Photographers A-Z (2011) and Dr. Paul Wolff & Tritschler (2019).