Wien Servus - Austria's capital Vienna, straddling the long and winding Danube River, is famous for its grand imperial palaces. These elegant but at times opious buildings are powerful reminders of an age when emperors ruled the city and its lands, all part of the Austro-Hungarian empire. Vienna is also known as the City of Music, since luminaries Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn, Brahms, Mahler and Schubert all lived and worked here and have defined the city's cultural heritage.