Austrians Celebrate this Week 250 Years of Prater

Prater Park in Vienna, one of the first public parks in Europe through as recorded by a decree in April, 1766, by the Emperor Joseph II celebrates 250 years as a place of relaxation, entertainment and sports activities, reports EFE. 

With an area of about six square kilometers, Wiener Prater (from Latin, "pratum" meaning grassland) includes a huge green area, an amusement park, a planetarium and sports facilities featuring a large swimming pool and the Ernst Happel Stadium.

 

An exhibition entitled "In der Prater! Wiener Vergnügungen seit 1766" ("At the Prater! Viennese Entertainment since 1766"), which can be seen at the Wien Museum Karlsplatz, takes a look into the history of Prater through prints, vintage posters and objects of the park.

In the eighteenth and nineteenth century, Prater became a democratized, free place given that there were not many places in Vienna that it could see a mixture of people of different social classes, mentioned, for EFE, Ursula Storch, curator of the exhibition.

In the mid nineteenth century, there were nine carousels, three puppet theaters, many places for wine and beer. Also, there were three cafes where people of different social classes went to drink coffee and enjoy the shows and music. The differences between social classes were not important in Prater, as there was more freedom, explains Peter Stuiber spokesman of the exhibition.

After World War II and the postwar crisis, Prater became what it is today, one of the most important green places of the Austrian capital. To mark the 250 years of Wiener Prater on 9th of April there was a big parade with hundreds of carriages, motorcycles and vintage cars.