The (; 'Vienna Giant

erris Erris is a barony in northwestern County Mayo in Ireland consisting of over , much of which is mountainous blanket bog. It has extensive sea coasts along its west and north boundaries. The main towns are Belmullet and Bangor Erris. The name E ...

Wheel'), or simply Riesenrad, is a tall

Ferris wheel A Ferris wheel (also called a big wheel, giant wheel or an observation wheel) is an amusement ride consisting of a rotating upright wheel with multiple passenger-carrying components (commonly referred to as passenger cars, cabins, tubs, gondola ...

at the entrance of the

Prater The Prater is a 6 km² public park in Vienna's 2nd district, Leopoldstadt. The name "Prater" is often used to refer to the Wurstelprater, an amusement park within the area. History Royal hunting ground The Prater was first documented in ...

amusement park in

Leopoldstadt Leopoldstadt (; ; "Leopold-Town") is the 2nd municipal district of Vienna () in Austria. there are 103,233 inhabitants over . It is situated in the heart of the city and, together with Brigittenau (20th district), forms a large island surrou ...

, the 2nd district of

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

's capital

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

. It is one of Vienna's most popular

tourist attraction A tourist attraction is a place of interest that tourists visit, typically for its inherent or exhibited natural or cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, offering leisure and amusement. Types Places of natural beaut ...

s, and symbolises the district as well as the city for many people. Constructed in 1897, it was the world's tallest extant Ferris wheel from 1920 until 1985.

History

The Wiener Riesenrad was designed by the British engineers Harry Hitchins and

Hubert Cecil Booth Hubert Cecil Booth (4 July 1871 – 14 January 1955) was an English engineer, best known for having invented one of the first powered vacuum cleaners. He also designed Ferris wheels, suspension bridges and factories. Later he became Chairm ...

and constructed in 1897 by the English engineer Lieutenant Walter Bassett Bassett (1864-1907),

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

, son of

Charles Bassett Charles Arthur "Charlie" Bassett II (December 30, 1931 – February 28, 1966) (Major, USAF) was an American electrical engineer and United States Air Force test pilot. He went to Ohio State University for two years and later graduated from Tex ...

(1834-1908), MP, of

Watermouth Castle Watermouth Castle is a building in Watermouth, near Ilfracombe, North Devon, England, designed by George Wightwick as a residence for the Bassett family in the mid-19th century and is not a true castle but a country house built to resemble one. I ...

, Devon. Its purpose was to celebrate the

Golden Jubilee A golden jubilee marks a 50th anniversary. It variously is applied to people, events, and nations. Bangladesh In Bangladesh, golden jubilee refers the 50th anniversary year of the separation from Pakistan and is called in Bengali language, ...

of Emperor

Franz Josef I Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I ( ; ; 18 August 1830 – 21 November 1916) was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, and the ruler of the other states of the Habsburg monarchy from 1848 until his death in 1916. In the early part of his reig ...

, and it was one of the earliest

s ever built. Bassett's Ferris wheel manufacturing business was not a commercial success, and he died in 1907 almost bankrupt. A permit for its demolition was issued in 1916, but because of a lack of funds with which to carry out the destruction, it survived. It was built with 30

gondola The gondola (, ; , ) is a traditional, flat-bottomed Venetian rowing boat, well suited to the conditions of the Venetian lagoon. It is typically propelled by a gondolier, who uses a rowing oar, which is not fastened to the hull, in a scul ...

s, but was severely damaged in World War II and when it was rebuilt only 15 gondolas were replaced. The wheel is driven by a circumferential cable which leaves the wheel and passes through the drive mechanism under the base, and its spokes are steel cables, in tension.

Height

When the tall Wiener Riesenrad was constructed in 1897, both the original

Ferris Wheel A Ferris wheel (also called a big wheel, giant wheel or an observation wheel) is an amusement ride consisting of a rotating upright wheel with multiple passenger-carrying components (commonly referred to as passenger cars, cabins, tubs, gondola ...

in the US (constructed 1893, demolished 1906) and the Great Wheel in England (constructed 1895, demolished 1907) were taller. The Grande Roue de Paris, constructed in 1900, was taller still. However, when the Grande Roue de Paris was demolished in 1920, the Riesenrad became the world's tallest extant Ferris wheel, and it remained so for the next 65 years, until the construction of the Technostar in Japan in 1985.

In popular culture

* The Riesenrad appeared in the post-World War II

film noir Film noir (; ) is a style of Cinema of the United States, Hollywood Crime film, crime dramas that emphasizes cynicism (contemporary), cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of Ameri ...

The Third Man ''The Third Man'' is a 1949 film noir directed by Carol Reed, written by Graham Greene, and starring Joseph Cotten as Holly Martins, Alida Valli as Anna Schmidt, Orson Welles as Harry Lime and Trevor Howard as Major Calloway. Set in post-Worl ...

'' (1949) * The wheel is featured in the 1973 spy thriller ''Scorpio'' (1973) * The 1987

James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...

film, ''

The Living Daylights ''The Living Daylights'' is a 1987 spy film, the fifteenth entry in the ''James Bond'' series produced by Eon Productions, and the first of two to star Timothy Dalton as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The fourth film in the series to ...

'' features scenes throughout the Prater, around the wheel, and a lengthy romantic scene on the wheel. * The wheel appears in the novel '' The Star of Kazan'' by

Eva Ibbotson Eva Maria Charlotte Michelle Ibbotson (née Wiesner; 21 January 1925 – 20 October 2010) was an Austrian-born British novelist, known for her children's literature. Some of her novels for adults have been reissued for the young adult market. Th ...

* The wheel appears in

Max Ophüls Maximillian Oppenheimer ( , ; 6 May 1902 – 26 March 1957), known as Max Ophüls ( , , ) or simply Ophuls, was a German and French film director and screenwriter. He was known for his opulent and lyrical visual style, with heavy use of trac ...

' '' Letter from an Unknown Woman'' (1948). * Scenes in

Richard Linklater Richard Linklater (; born July 30, 1960) is an American filmmaker. He is known for making films that deal thematically with suburban culture and the effects of the passage of time. In 2015, Linklater was included on the annual ''Time'' 100 li ...

's ''

Before Sunrise ''Before Sunrise'' is a 1995 Romance film, romantic drama film directed by Richard Linklater and co-written by Linklater and Kim Krizan, and is the first installment in the Before trilogy, ''Before'' trilogy. In the film, Jesse (Ethan Hawke) an ...

'' (1995) were filmed around the Prater and on the wheel. * The wheel appears in ''The Glass Room'' by

Simon Mawer Simon Mawer ( ; 18 September 1948 – 12 February 2025) was a British author who lived in Italy. Early life and work Born in England and educated at Millfield School in Somerset and at Brasenose College, Oxford, Mawer took a degree in zoology a ...

. * The Riesenrad appears in the film '' Woman in Gold'' (2015), about the repatriation of a Klimt portrait stolen by the Nazis from a Jewish Viennese family. *The wheel appears in

Kommissar Rex ''Inspector Rex'' (German: ''Kommissar Rex''; Italian: ''Il commissario Rex'') is an Austrian-Italian police procedural television series created by Peter Hajek and Peter Moser. Originally an Austrian series aired from 1994 to 2004 on ORF 1, in ...

the Austrian television series *Winter City in Burnout 3: Takedown is based on Vienna and includes the Riesenrad. *The wheel is featured in the US Hallmark Channel movie Christmas in Vienna. *In the second season of the NBC TV Show: Grimm, Episode 21, "the Walking Dead" the wheel is in the background of one scene. *The wheel appears in episode 1 of the TV series '' Vienna Blood'' (2019) The Last Seance *In the 2022 film Sachertorte, the main characters take a ride on the wheel.

References

External links

* {{Coord, 48.2166505, N, 16.3959494, E, display=title Ferris wheels Amusement rides introduced in 1897 Buildings and structures in Leopoldstadt Tourist attractions in Vienna 1897 establishments in Austria 19th-century architecture in Austria Prater