Vienna’s Top Historic Locations

Take a Walk Around Locations in the Heart of Vienna

Last updated on May 28th, 2020

Progressive Productions’ Team would like to take you on a walk through significant film locations in the Austrian capital’s historic centre. These buildings and squares are what most people envisage when they think of Vienna. This is Vienna’s first district and used to be surrounded by the city’s historic walls, refers to by its name “Innere Stadt” or “Inner City” . These walls have since been demolished and today it is surrounded by a stunning and emblematic boulevard called the Ringstrasse. It has a history going back more than seven centuries with gothic churches and cobblestone streets, classicist representative buildings and cast-iron train bridges. Although the area of this district is only 3 square kilometres, the locations we will feature are all inside its territory or surround it.

1st Stop: Grandiose Historic Architecture

Let's start at the Rathaus, which is actually Vienna’s City Hall, which is one of the city’s key tourist attractions and has housed countless Hollywood blockbusters. The surroundings of this building are authentically historic and face a park, which provides an ideal environment to shoot a period piece. Here you can find beautifully decorated arcades, with café terraces underneath arches, evoking the famous Viennese café culture. It can also be a perfect location for documentaries, as it was for the 2019 documentary Lieberman.

This area provides a cluster of grandiose architecture

These monumental arcades are ideal for shooting a period piece

A key location for archetypal European café culture

2nd Stop: The Classic European Street from the Past

The Löwelstrasse is a historic street of grandiose size, spaciously lined with monumental Classistic buildings. Filmmakers often only need to close the street, change a few street names and put up a historic lamppost or two to prepare this location for the horse-drawn carriages to enter and to start shooting a scene from the 18th century. In 2018 it was used as a location for an Austrian period drama set in 1932.

Stunning classicist buildings from the 18th century

3rd Stop: A Gothic Alleyway

Just around the corner, you can find the Minoritenplatz, which is a tiny square that can take you on a fairytale-like journey into the past. In the centre of it stands a gothic church built in the 13th century and the surrounding buildings are also historic. Complete with cobblestones on the streets this location can provide a backdrop which is pretty perfect even without any work from the art department. This location offers authentic scenery for productions set in any century of European history since the Middle Ages. Lately, an Austrian TV series was shot here focusing on life in and around the Sacher Hotel at the end of the 19th century.

A completely unspoilt and authentic street from the past

Cobblestone streets leading to a 13th-century gothic church

Beautiful stone statues and rose windows from many centuries ago

4th Stop: The Monumental Square of Austrian Monarchy

After walking down only two streets, you reach the Michaelerplatz, which is one of the most important representative squares of royal power in Vienna and today houses the office of Austria’s President. Facing a historic church the main facade of the Hofburg towers above visitors. Every aspect of this building with its columns, cast iron gate and huge statues, have been designed to intimidate, to be respected and feared by the visitors of the royal palace. Such a location is perfect for representing the power of a kingdom or a state, is site consciously designed to do so. In 2017, this grandiose location was used to double as Moscow in the spy film Red Sparrow starring Jennifer Lawrence.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire’s central square designed to represent its power

5th Stop: Mozart’s Charming Cobblestone Street

The Domgasse is a bit further East and is quite the opposite in scale, since it is a charming little historic alleyway, with cobblestones and medieval architecture, old entrances and local stores. The buildings are painted various shades of white and yellow, which is so typical of Vienna. A special feature of this street is that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the extraordinary composer used to live here, which is why it is now home to the Mozart Museum. A fun fact is that in the 1974 epic movie The Night Porter, we can see Lucia, the main character visit this museum.

This historic street used to be home to the composer Mozart

An atmospheric narrow street with beautiful and diverse centuries-old buildings

6th Stop: Typically Viennese Scenery

After walking Northward you can find another location of The Night Porter. The Jordangasse is an unusually shaped street surrounded by beautiful, high 17th and 18th-century building all kept in great condition thanks to Austria's famous respect for their environment and history. The cobblestone street is unusual because it is wider than a tight alleyway, but does not have pavements and the road distinguished, created a strikingly historic atmosphere. No wonder it is a location so frequently visited by productions!

The timeless atmosphere is enhanced by not having pavements, only cobblestones

This street has been used in productions such as the 1974 movie called The Night Porter

7th Stop: Dynamic Iron Bridge

Finally, after a 15 minutes walk towards the nearest small canal you can find the Zollamtsbrücke, which is a railway bridge for one of the Viennese subway lines. It is unique also because it stretches over a small Danube canal, connecting underground tunnels on either side. Furthermore, the Zollamtssteg, bridge for pedestrians and cyclists arches above it in a slightly different angle. These two historic, cast-iron bridges standing on two different heights create an unusually dynamic sight. This location can be well used either to depict scenes of contemporary urban life, but it can also be used to recreate the world of industrialisation a century and a half ago. You can spot the bridge in the 1995 world-famous movie Before Sunshine as the lovers walk over the bridge. It has also been used by filmmakers since most lately for an Austrian crime series.

A dynamic urban scene, with two bridges stretching over a Danube canal

The pedestrian iron bridge as seen in the movie 1995 Before Sunset

The lower iron bridge with train tracks was made for one of the Viennese underground lines

This last location providing productions with a bridge between the past and the present proves to be a perfect way to end this tour. We hope you enjoyed the journey and all the locations that we were able to share with you! All these exciting sites full of inspiration and possibilities are just a few of the many film locations Vienna has to offer, especially since this tour only focused on the most central, most historic district of the Austrian capital.