After much speculation, the decision has finally been made: we’re going to Vienna, y’all! Today the European Broadcasting Union, together with ORF, finally made the Eurovision 2015 host city announcement, choosing to hold the 60th Edition of the Eurovision Song Contest in the Wiener Stadthalle. YASSSS!

Eurovision 2015 host venue: WIENER STADTHALLE

The Stadthalle is an indoor arena, located in the 15th district of Vienna, Austria. It was designed by Austrian architect Roland Rainer and built from 1953–1958. The arena has an overall seating capacity of approximately 16,000 people and is 26.6 meters high—high enough to hold the biggest wind machines in the land! This was the favourite amongst wiwireaders in a recent poll, so we know a lot of folks are very happy right now.

Eurovision vienna 2015The arena comprises six halls: A and B (gymnasiums), C (ice arena), D (main hall, mostly for concerts e.g. Metallica ), E (for smaller events e.g. Die Stehaufmandln ) & F (for more intimate concerts e.g. Women’s World Award). In 1974, the additional Stadthallenbad, a public swimming pool, was built. Hall D can take up to 16,000 people. Offices, changing rooms, backstage and 2 VIP rooms are included in it.

The arena hosts an annual tennis tournament, called Erste Bank Open and the show Holiday On Ice. It also hosts musicals (Dirty Dancing, Thriller), and will play host to Lady Gaga’s ARTpop tour. At this point, details about the stage design for next year’s Eurovision are still being kept hidden, but the area looks like the ideal playground for any set desginer, lighting engineer and executive producer.

As we previously reported, the Stadhalle is going to have to cancel a lot of events as a result of this. You can see who will be rescheduled by clicking here.

Vienna Stadthalle Photos

Eurovision 2015 host city: Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of Austria, and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria’s primary city, with a population of about 1.757 million (2.4 million within the metropolitan area, more than 20% of Austria’s population), and its cultural, economic, and political centre. It is the 7th-largest city by population within city limits in the European Union. Until the beginning of the 20th century it was the largest German-speaking city in the world, and before the splitting of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in World War I the city had 2 million inhabitants. Today it is the second only to Berlin in German speakers.

Vienna is host to many major international organizations, including the United Nations and OPEC. The city lies in the east of Austria and is close to the borders of theCzech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary. These regions work together in a European Centrope border region. Along with nearby Bratislava, Vienna forms a metropolitan region with 3 million inhabitants. In 2001, the city centre was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Apart from being regarded as the City of Music because of its musical legacy, Vienna is also said to be “The City of Dreams” because it was home to the world’s first psycho-analyst – Sigmund Freud. The city’s roots lie in early Celtic and Roman settlements that transformed into a Medieval and Baroque city, the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It is well known for having played an essential role as a leading European music centre, from the great age of Viennese Classicism through the early part of the 20th century. The historic centre of Vienna is rich in architectural ensembles, including Baroque castles and gardens, and the late-19th-century Ringstrasse lined with grand buildings, monuments and parks.

Panorama_vienna

For more information about Vienna please visit the city’s official site.

For more information about Wiener StadtHaller please visit the Facebook Page

21 Comments
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Alex
Alex
9 years ago

Charles, it’s important to the people who want to come from various parts of the world to attend the event. If they’re going to take time off from work and spend money to buy plane/train tickets, rent a car and reserve hotel rooms, then of course as tourists most of them would be interested in the city where the events are taking place. Certain cities are cheaper to stay in or easier to access than others, and then of course there are the attractions that one would visit during the times when a show is not taking place. I’d be… Read more »

Timo
Timo
9 years ago

Charles, what makes you so upset?

Charles
Charles
9 years ago

@Huh: Are you a songwriter? Are you a singer? Are you considering taking part? Are you a producer? Are you collaborating with the whole show? Are you helping it financially? Or are you saving money just to go there and watch the show like everyone of us? Umm… thought so. Next time you wanna waste time with my comments …think twice and make sure you practise your preaching by supporting the contest musically or financially otherwise you words mean nothing. Everything else is as shallow and futile as Paris Hilton inside a limo or at the pool. You do the… Read more »

ESCaddict
ESCaddict
9 years ago

A beautiful city, so happy with the choice. I hope they clean the streets though. When I visited years ago I could not believe how much vomit there was on the streets (too much wein?). Rather that The City of Music, I dubbed It The City of Spew.

Archeops
Archeops
9 years ago

Hope for good stage, not like Malmö.

Huh
Huh
9 years ago

@Charles got more negative things to say about what they do in Eurovision? What they do in the contest won’t solely run according to your own expectations. You’re all (negative) talk but no contribution whatsoever and it’s such a buzzkill. Have a good day, if you always have one 🙂

Charles
Charles
9 years ago

Why so much anticipation to choose one damn city? Why is this important? What makes this worth is if the music is great otherwise … the competition could be held at anyone’s backyard …

Just being honest
Just being honest
9 years ago

What a great place to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Europe’s most popular musical TV show at the City of Music, Vienna!

Deven O'Kearney
Deven O'Kearney
9 years ago

This is going to be a great Eurovision Song Contest. Without a doubt. 😀

AndreaIT
AndreaIT
9 years ago

Unfortunately no. Vienna it’s too expensive. Innsbruck would have been more comfortable for me beacuse I live near Innsbruck and I could go by car, but Vienna is further…

Bram
Bram
9 years ago

When you mentioned Bratislava in the article, it’s a pity that Slovakia is not participating. Though I hope I could be proven wrong.

Alex
Alex
9 years ago

Vienna waits for you…

davve
davve
9 years ago

atleast we will not get the never ending controversies surrounding the Arenas that has becomed standard after Baku,Malmö and Copenhagen.

Sound like a stabile choice.

davve
davve
9 years ago

OK. Sounds great. I wish Vienna and Austria the best of luck!

David Thielen
9 years ago

I’m looking forward to the acts that use the swimming pool 🙂

cheesecake
cheesecake
9 years ago

I’m happy about Vienna, I’m just not sure about the venue. I hope it’s not gonna be like Malmö (stage, hall, …).
Anyway, I’m looking forward to it!

Patrick
9 years ago

@ Diane: Hall D

Deven O'Kearney
Deven O'Kearney
9 years ago

This is the exact same thing that happened last year when we all thought we were going to Herning instead of Copenhagen. We all know what happened next. We went to Copenhagen’s B&W Hallerne.

Darren
Darren
9 years ago

WOOO HOOO!!!!
So happy right now!! Vienna truly is the best choice!!
Europe will not be disappointed!
Looks like I’m returning to Vienna in the spring!

Diane
Diane
9 years ago

I stumbled upon Google and it seems like this venue had been used by Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Justin Timberlake and even Metallica. So I think there would be no problem to deliver a great live audio. And I wonder which one of these 6 halls that they will use to put the Eurovision stage?

Oostenrijk
Oostenrijk
9 years ago

This is just disgusting