Vienna International Center

(Local Name: UNO City) Following measures taken in the early 1970s to construct the Danube Relief Channel, UNO-City and an international conference center, the Austria Center Vienna, were created at the end of the Danube Bridge which lies opposite the Altstadt. In years to come it is planned to develop a second ultra-modern city center around UNO-City, to be known as Danube City. UNO-City is leased by the State on a 99-year agreement for a peppercorn rent of one schilling a year to the United Nations, several of whose organizations are housed here. These include the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the Department of the UN for International Commercial Law (UNCITRAL), the International Atomic Energy Authority (IAEA) and the High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). Since August 27 1979 the complex has officially been extra territorial. The idiosyncratic office blocks, standing between 54m/177ft and 120m/395ft high, were built between 1973 and 1976 to plans by Johann Staber. The architectural embellishments and the interiors are mainly the work of renowned Austrian artists; on the UNO Plaza stands "Polis", a bronze casting by Joannis Avramidis, while inside can be seen pictures by Wolfgang Hollegha, Georg Eisler, Karl Korab, Kurt Regschek, Peter Pongratz and Friedensreich Hundertwasser, with reliefs by Alfred Hrdlicka and Giselbert Hocke.