Vienna ferris wheel
| Vienna ferris wheel | |
|---|---|
|
|
| The ferris wheel in the Vienna Prater | |
| Basic data | |
| Place: | Prater , Vienna |
| Construction time : | 1896-1897 |
| Renovation: | 1945 |
| Status : | in operation |
| Architects : | Walter Bassett Basset and Harry Hitchins |
| Technical specifications | |
| Height : | 64.75 m |
| Floors : | 15 wagons |
| Building material : | Steel , wood , glass |
The Vienna Giant Ferris Wheel in the Prater in the Leopoldstadt district is a sight and a symbol of Vienna . It was built in 1897 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the throne of Emperor Franz Joseph I and at that time it was one of the largest Ferris wheels in the world.
history
The Ferris wheel was planned in 1896 by the English engineers Walter Bassett Basset (1864–1907) and Harry Hitchins and built with 30 wagons on a piece of land on the Prater site leased by Gabor Steiner , the actual “father of the Ferris wheel” . Hubert Cecil Booth was actually the executive chief designer . Walter Bassett Basset himself advanced the construction costs of 500,000 kroner and afterwards securitized the financing costs in shares (£ 45,000) and a bond of £ 10,000 (divided into 40 pieces of £ 250) of the English company "Wiener Riesen Rad Limited" (Vienna Gigantic Wheel Ltd.). The wheel was set in motion for the first time on June 25, 1897 , but it only performed half a turn so that the upper part could be brought down and assembled. It was opened in 1897, a year before the celebration of the 50th jubilee of Emperor Franz Joseph I . The official inauguration of the Ferris wheel took place on July 3, 1897, a hot summer day on which the Viennese visited the Prater area in large numbers. However, very few were likely to have been able to raise the eight guilders that a ride on the Ferris wheel cost at that time. A civil servant was earning 30 guilders a month at the time.
During the First World War , in 1916, the British owner of the ferris wheel, Walter Basset, was expropriated and the attraction was put up for auction. It was only three years later, in 1919, that the Prague merchant Eduard Steiner , who was not related to Gabor Steiner, acquired it , who originally wanted it to be demolished, but finally leased it.
In 1938 the Ferris wheel, like all of Eduard Steiner's property (and also that of Gabor Steiner), was “Aryanized” by the National Socialists . A year later it was placed under monument protection. During the Second World War , the ferris wheel was almost completely destroyed by fire and bombs and burned out in 1944. In the same year, Gabor Steiner died in exile in Beverly Hills . Eduard Steiner, the last legal owner before the "Aryanization", was murdered in 1944 in Auschwitz . In 1953 the ferris wheel was restituted to three Steiner heiresses .
_2.jpg)
Because of the fire damage during the war, it was assumed after 1945 that the Ferris wheel's stability had suffered. Therefore only 15 of the 30 wagons were reattached. For cost reasons, only 4 instead of the original 6 windows were installed. As recently as 1957, when the owner had old wagons replaced on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the ride , the number of 15 wagons was kept due to insufficient frequency . The Ferris wheel with 15 wagons became a symbol of the reconstruction. Since 2002 there has been an exhibition hall called the “Panorama Museum” near the Giant Ferris Wheel with eight replica wagons in which the history of the Vienna Prater is presented.
In 2016, the replacement of the 15 wagons with new ones, which were built according to the original plans from 1896/97. Back then the wagons had six windows on each side.
The Ferris wheel is located above the "Wiener Riesenrad Dr. Lamac GmbH & Co OG "and an intermediate asset management company in the private ownership of Dorothea Lamac.
facts and figures
The Vienna Giant Ferris Wheel has the shape of a triangle with a total diameter of 60.96 meters (derived from 200 English feet ), which corresponds to the diameter of the suspension axes of the wagons. The outer wheel diameter is 55.78 meters (183 feet) and the inner wheel diameter is 49.68 meters (163 feet). The highest point is 64.75 meters above the ground.
The weight of the rotating structure is 244.85 tons and the total weight of all iron structures is 430.05 tons. The axis of the ferris wheel is 10.78 meters long, has a diameter of 0.5 meters and weighs 16.3 tons.
It is driven by two motors with an output of 15 kilowatts, which are connected to one another via a shaft . They drive two flywheels via belts. The drive force is introduced into the two cable drives on the outside of the wheel rim via belt pulleys and a two-stage gearbox, the torque is transmitted via friction shoes. The rope is kept under tension by a 3.5 tonne weight. Although either of the two motors could move the wheel on its own, two other, smaller motors are integrated into the drive system for safety; the power supply maintains an emergency generator in the event of a power failure. Ultimately, the power transmission system is designed so that the Ferris wheel can also be turned by hand.
The circumferential speed of the Ferris wheel is a maximum of 0.75 meters per second (2.7 kilometers per hour), so the time for one complete revolution is 255 seconds. The actual duration for one revolution is much longer and depends on the number of passengers, since in the longest case the Ferris wheel is only moved the distance between two wagons in order to allow passengers to get on and off.
useful information
In the course of its history, the Vienna Giant Ferris Wheel has also been a place for daring actions: In 1914, for example, the circus director Madame Solange d'Atalide shot a lap on the roof of a wagon of the Vienna Giant Ferris Wheel while sitting on a horse for a film .
The Vienna Giant Ferris Wheel made its mark in film history through a longer sequence in The Third Man (1949, directed by Carol Reed , with Orson Welles and Joseph Cotten ). In memory of this film, it was added to the list of treasures of European film culture by the European Film Academy on June 9, 2016 . A scene in the 15th James Bond adventure The Living Daylights (1987) was also shot on the Ferris wheel.
On the occasion of the European Football Championship in 2008 , the Ferris wheel was decorated with a picture of the Czech goalkeeper Petr Čech . Originally, this function was supposed to be performed by a 2000 square meter net stretched over the wheel. On it were the EM logo , the EM mascots Trix and Flix and the phrase: "We're looking forward to the European Championship." The already installed net had to be opened at the beginning of March 2008 because of the approaching storm "Emma" (the individual net parts were connected with zippers). According to statements from Stadt-Wien-Marketing , the storm did not damage it any further except for a 1.5 meter long crack. Nevertheless, it was necessary to completely remove it because the ferris wheel required a safety check due to the storm. The 50,000 to 60,000 euros required to hang it up again were missing. The main part would have been spent on installing the network, since such work could only be carried out at night when the Ferris wheel was not in operation and would have taken 14 days.
On October 16, 2019, a joint rescue exercise by special forces from the fire brigade, professional rescue and police took place, during which - in the wind - an injured dummy and, most recently, two journalists were roped down from a gondola at the highest point of the bike.
Classification to other ferris wheels
George Ferris, the inventor of the Ferris wheel, implemented the first such amusement ride at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893 . The success of this invention prompted the British naval officer and engineer Walter Bassett Basset to buy Ferris' patent and subsequently to build four more Ferris wheels in Europe. The only one of these four first Ferris wheels from around the turn of the century that is still standing is the Wiener Riesenrad in the Prater, which is a structurally smaller copy of the Blackpool Ferris wheel . A Ferris wheel planned for New Brighton ( Wallasey district ) was not built due to legal disputes. The place built the New Brighton Tower to replace it , but it was demolished again in the 1920s.
| Chicago | London | Blackpool | Vienna | Paris | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| image |
|
|
|
|
.jpg)
|
| Maximum height | 84 m | 91.4 m | 67 m | 64.7 m | 100 m |
| Year of construction | 1893 | 1895 | 1896 | 1897 | 1900 |
| Year of dismantling | 1906 | 1906 | 1928 | in operation | 1937 |
Picture gallery
Details of the iron structure
Ferris wheel at night
Viennese ferris wheel with wagon. The drive cables can be seen in the hook-shaped arms on the left and right of the picture.
In lofty heights
View between the spokes and struts of Vienna
.jpg)
_1.jpg)
_3.jpg)
Web links
- wienerriesenrad.com - Official website of the Wiener Riesenrad
- The ferris wheel in the English garden. In: Neue Freie Presse , July 4, 1897, p. 7 (online at ANNO ).
- EM advertising on Ferris wheel remains on the ground . In: Wiener Zeitung , print edition, March 18, 2008. Accessed November 7, 2013.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Information about the ferris wheel ; accessed on Oct. 8, 2018.
- ↑ Der Standard : Outrage over a possible sale, but the Ferris wheel is "very British" ; Retrieved Jan. 27, 2011.
- ↑ The Ferris wheel is celebrated at the weekend . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung , July 2, 1957, p. 6.
- ↑ orf.at: New wagons for the Ferris wheel ; accessed on February 27, 2016
- ↑ Vienna Giant Ferris Wheel Dr. Lamac & Co OHG , company abc.at. Retrieved February 11, 2010.
- ^ Wiener Riesenrad. In: Structurae
- ↑ Chronicle: Risky rescue training from the ferris wheel orf.at, October 16, 2019, accessed October 16, 2019.
- ↑ Anderson: Ferris Wheels: An Illustrated History. Pp. 94-95.
- ↑ Anderson: Ferris Wheels: An Illustrated History. P. 95.
- ↑ Anderson: Ferris Wheels: An Illustrated History. P. 113.
Remarks
- ↑ The designer Walter Bassett Basset died in 1907 after a marriage that had remained childless. - A coherent ( genealogical ) reference would be advisable to differentiate those with the same name .
Coordinates: 48 ° 12 '58 " N , 16 ° 23' 44" E