Hohe Warte Stadion
The Hohe Warte Stadium was built around 1920s and opened in 1921. Located in Heiligenstadt at the 19th Viennese Dobling district, the Hohe Warte Stadium is a multi-use stadium, but has been primarily used as a football and rugby venue.
Considered as the best venue for any sport in Austria, it has hosted hundreds of matches from the Austrian national football around 1920s and 1930s, which attracted a record-breaking attendance of over 80,000 people when the team played against Italy in 1923. In the 1920s, the Hohe Warte Stadium also hosted open-air operas and boxing bouts. It used to be the home of First Vienna FC and occasionally played host to the Vienna Vikings American Football team and the Austrian international rugby union matches.
The Hohe Warte Stadium was constructed on the side of a hill, making the structure a “natural amphitheatre”. Adding to this natural feel is three of its four sides feature grass banking, instead of traditional concrete, which gives the ground a dramatic and breathtaking green appearance. The fourth side of the ground boasts a modern main stand, which is the only part of the stadium currently in use since a council directive ordered not to use the grass banking on safety grounds. Since then, the amphitheater could only hold 5,500 people. However, this directive did not stop people wandering into the ground.
In 1931, Hohe Warte lost its name as Austria’s leading stadium after the development of the Prater Stadion. However, the championship success of First Vienna in the 1940s to 1950s made sure that the amphitheater’s crowd continued to flow.
