Vienna - Concert Hall

(Local Name: Musikvereinsgebäude) The Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde (Music Lovers' Society) was founded in 1812. In 1867 it commissioned Theophil Hansen - who later designed the Parlament building - to draw up plans for this building, the concert hall. The terracotta statues on the sienna-red Neo-Renaissance edifice are mainly by Franz Melnizki. Many prominent musicians perform in the "Golden Hall", and it is the home of the Viennese Philharmonic, which was formed in 1842 and whose legendary New Year Concert is televised from here all over the world. Gustav Mahler and Hugo Wolf once taught here, and such famous conductors as Furtwängler, Böhm, Karajan, Bernstein and Claudio Abbado have held their audiences entranced in these surroundings. The Golden Hall is decorated with 36 golden caryatids and boasts a magnificent coffered ceiling. It is 51.2m/165ft long, 18.9m/63ft wide and 17.6m/55ft high, and can seat an audience of 2,000. There is room for 400 musicians and is reckoned to be one of the world's best concert halls for acoustics. The organ which was installed in 1968 has 100 registers and 7,500 pipes. The "Music Lovers" also possess a comprehensive collection of items relating to the history of music and a vast store of over 300,000 musical scores.