Pharmacy Ball
The Pharmacie Ball (also known as the Apothecary Ball ) is an annual dance ball in the Vienna Hofburg , which has been organized by the Austrian Chamber of Pharmacists since 1932 .
History
Various events took place even before the First World War and between 1920 and 1932, but these cannot be precisely verified. The first event that was recorded with a date was on January 26th, 1932. It was a dance event that was held three times in a row at the Hotel Regina and was known as the "Faschings-Kränzchen".
Due to the great interest, the number of visitors increased steadily and therefore in 1935 they moved to the Parkhotel in Hietzing , and later to the Kursalon.
With the outbreak of the Second World War , the “ball season” for the pharmaceutical industry was over and the ball events were only resumed after the war. The last ball event took place on January 27, 1939, the first post-war ball on March 12, 1949, in a modest setting in the Eschenbach halls. If you continue counting, this would have been the 9th ball of pharmacy.
From the 1950s onwards it continued on a regular basis. From the Eschenbach-Hallen one changed to the Kursalon and in 1951 the Pharmacy Ball took place in the Konzerthaus for the first time. It was the first ball again in a more festive setting. The 24th ball was the last ball in the Vienna Konzerthaus. Characteristic of the events at that time were the midnight performances, in which well-known Viennese actors and cabaret artists, such as B. Fritz Imhoff and Fritz Muliar , who entertained ball visitors.
On January 22nd, 1965, the first ball took place in the Vienna Hofburg . In 1967 the Saturday in the Hofburg became free and you could now hold the ball for the weekend, which before that always took place on a Thursday.
In 1987 the Hofburg balls had to be canceled because a state event was scheduled for that year in the Hofburg; the Pharmacy Ball was therefore held again in the Konzerthaus. Since 1988, the Pharmacie Ball has always been held on the 3rd weekend in January in the Vienna Hofburg. With one exception: in 1991, like all other Viennese noble balls, the ball could not be held because of the chaos of war in the Gulf.