Imagine standing on this very hill, the Rosenhügel, which translates to the “Rose Hill”. It is a beautiful, iconic hill in Vienna, Austria, with rich history and natural beauty. Rosenhügel has a long history. Vienna’s soutwesternmost part was once covered in roses. In fact, you can still see the remains of rose gardens up on the hill. The name itself is a testament to the history of this hill.
In the 19th century, Vienna annexed parts of Rosenhügel, starting with Speising and Hetzendorf, followed by Rosenberg. The last to be annexed was Atzgersdorf and Mauer. Rosenhügel served another important purpose in Austrian history, as the site of the first large radio station, the “Wien-Rosenhügel” transmitter. The transmitter was built in 1926, with three impressive 85-metre-high towers. It played a crucial role in the development of Austrian radio broadcasting, but it was eventually shut down in 1933.
But even before these towers stood tall on Rosenhügel, even in 1921, other important things happened. At the Rosenhügel-Filmstudios, Austrian cinema rose to prominence with a vast array of movies, often directed by Austrian directors. The studios were seen as state-of-the-art in its time, and some even received funding from the Nazi regime. After WWII, it became the main studio for Austrian cinema, until the rise of television.
Even today, you can see the remains of a monumental film, Samson and Delila, which was filmed at the Rosenhügel studios in 1922. The hill of Rosenhügel still stands as a reminder of Vienna’s rich and diverse history.