#uniquedestinations
Riesenrad is a giant Ferris wheel, located in the famous Prater Park and one of the city symbols that dominates the skyline of Vienna (Austria). Almost 65 metres tall, it offers visitors breathtaking and unforgettable views of the city and Danube.
The construction of the Wheel
The Wheel was built in 1897 to mark the 50 years (Golden Jubilee) of Emperor Franz Josef on the throne. It is one of the earliest Ferris wheels ever built. The English engineer Lieutenant Walter Bassett constructed the Wheel, which had 30 hanging gondolas. The authorities of the city issued a permit for the destruction of the wheel in 1916, but they abandoned the project due to lack of funds. During WWII its biggest part was damaged, and after the war, they restored only 15 gondolas. Today the whole structure weighs over 430 tonnes. It has a diameter of 61 metres, or exactly 200 feet (a relic of the original English design). It turns slowly but surely at a pace of 2.7 km/h.
The Wheel as a filming location
Riesenrad has been the filming location and had the “lead role” in several films. The famous “cuckoo speech” scene of the classic film “The Third Man” (1949), by director Carol Reed and starring Orson Welles, was filmed here. In the scene Harry Lime (Orson Welles) attempts to convince his old friend Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten) to join him in underground criminal affairs in Vienna after WWII. He delivers the famous lines, which he wrote himself: “In Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, they had five hundred years of democracy and peace – and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock”.
Additionally, other films in which the Riesenrad appears are the James Bond film “The Living Daylights” (1987) [picture below left], Max Ophuls’ film “Letter from an Unknown Woman” (1948), the spy thriller with Alain Delon “Scorpio” (1973), Richard Linklater’s “Before Sunrise” (1995) [picture below right], the film “Woman in Gold” (2015), and many more movies and TV series. This is the reason why the European Film Academy include it in the list of Treasures of European Film Culture by in June 2016.
The Wheel today
Nowadays the Wheel is open all year round. There are 15-person cabins and also individual cabins that someone can book for exclusive dinners, cocktail receptions and weddings. Also, in the entrance area, eight cabins present moments from the 2,000 years of Viennese history. For opening hours, tickets, bookings and any additional information, visit the official site. If you are visiting Vienna, and especially if you love cinema, Riesenrad should be on your bucket list.
Finally a short video with our ride on the giant Ferris wheel of Vienna :
