Brigittenau

Brigittenau, since 1900 the 20^th district of Vienna, area 5.67 km², pop. 71,876 (1991); from 1850 to 1900 part of the 2^nd district; various parts of the district used to be named "Schottenau", "Wolfsau", "Taborau" and "Zwischenbrücken", today¢ s name derives from the Brigitta chapel (built from 1645 to 1651 after the Swedes had been fended off during the Thirty-Years' War); a settlement called Zwischenbrücken was situated around the chapel. Before the River Danube was regulated (1869-75) the area was for the most part a wetland area with a pheasantry; Emperor Joseph II made the area accessible to the public under the name of Augarten; rapidly settled from the south after 1840; then an industrial area, it is now mainly a residential area. Until 1847 the Brigitta fair, described in the novella "Der arme Spielmann" by F. Grillparzer, enjoyed great popularity. Brigitta church (1867-1873) by F. v. Schmidt; Divine Redeemer church (1982/83). Large council housing estates: Winarsky-Hof (1924) and Otto-Haas-Hof (1925), Janecek-Hof (1925-1926), Beer-Hof (1926), Friedrich Engels-Hof (1930-1933), municipal housing estates mainly from the 1960s and the 1970s on either side of Adalbert-Stifter-Straße street, residential building Dresdner Straße (1980), housing projects: Hartlgasse (1989) etc. The Millenniums-Tower (height 202 m, built in 1999) is the highest building in Austria. Technological Grammar School (1980), general accident insurance headquarters (1972-1977), Lorenz-Böhler accident hospital, adult education centre, district museum, traffic facilities; goods railway station, formerly the Northwestern Railway station, goods railway station, Nordbrücke Danube Bridge, Floridsdorf bridge, Northern Railway bridge, Brigittenau bridge, U6 underground railway line built in 1996.

Literature: F. Czeike, Brigittenau, Wr. Bezirkskulturführer, 1981; idem, Historisches Lexikon Wien, 5 vols., 1992-1997.