Page 31 INTERIOR OF “OLD VIENNA.”—

From: PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS

INTERIOR OF “OLD VIENNA.”—To leave the Exposition without having visited the Austrian Village, more widely known as “Old Vienna,” was, in the opinion of many people, not to have seen the Fair at all. It was one of the most popular places of resort for the multitude, despite the expensiveness of the luxury, for prices in Old Vienna were “World’s Fair prices” indeed. There was a charm about the place, though, this faithful reproduction of “Der Graben” in the Vienna of one hundred and fifty years ago, and the old town with its ancient buildings, its shops, its tables set out under the skies, its lights and its charming music had always an attendance while the evenings remained warm enough for out-door idling. Old Vienna covered a space in the Plaisance of one hundred and ninety-five by five hundred feet and consisted of a court, or plaza, around which were the buildings. There were thirty-six in all, the largest being the rathhaus, or city hall. There was a church in which services were held according to the Austrian custom, and in the shops about the plaza were sold all sorts of Viennese goods. About five hundred Austrians were employed in the village, some fifty young women acting as waiters in one of the buildings fitted up for the purpose, though most of the restaurant patronage was of the out-door kind. Two bands played alternately in the plaza, and it was their excellent music which formed the main attraction to the village. A curious object was “The Iron Stick,” the imitated stump of an old tree preserved in Vienna because of the good fortune it gives to all who drive a nail in it.

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