Ernst-Happel-Stadion
Built for workers' sport in 1931, this 50,865-seat bowl also served as a transit prison for over 1,000 Jewish deportees in 1939.
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Tübingen architect Otto Ernst Schweizer designed this arena for the second Workers' Olympiad and engineered it to empty 60,000 people in under 8 minutes. Under Nazi occupation the corridors beneath Section B held Polish-born Viennese Jews on orders of Reinhard Heydrich; 1,038 were deported to Buchenwald on 30 September 1939. The same ground later hosted the UEFA Euro 2008 final, where Spain beat Germany.
What to look for
- Section B grandstands — the corridors below held over 1,000 prisoners before their deportation to Buchenwald in autumn 1939
- Schweizer's concrete bowl, completed in just 23 months and engineered for a 7–8 minute full-capacity evacuation
- The adjacent Stadionbad, also by Schweizer — described as Europe's largest swimming complex at 400,000 sq m
Take U2 to Stadion station or buses 77A / 11A — both drop you at the gate.
Ernst-Happel-Stadion is one of 39 sights worth the detour in Vienna, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Vienna pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Vienna
- Schönbrunn PalaceHabsburg emperors were born here, ruled from here, and died here — 1,441 rooms of Baroque ambition spanning 300 years.
- St. Stephen's CathedralA cathedral consecrated in 1147 as crusaders prepared to march — and built on top of a Roman burial ground that nobody knew was there until 2000.
- BelvederePrince Eugene built this summer palace on Ottoman campaign winnings — it is now three art museums inside a World Heritage Baroque garden.
- Hofburg PalaceSeven centuries of Austrian rulers worked from this address — the current president still does.
- Vienna State OperaThe first major building on Vienna's Ring Road, and the house where Vienna Philharmonic musicians earn their seats.
- Kunsthistorisches MuseumThe Habsburgs' private art collection, housed in the palace they built just to hold it.