United Nations Office at Vienna

The United Nations Office at Vienna stands on the northern bank of the Danube in the city’s 22nd district. It forms part of the Vienna International Centre, a group of low, curved office towers grouped around wide courtyards and broad walkways. The complex is often called ‘UNO City’ in everyday speech and sometimes nicknamed ‘Mordor’ by locals. Inside the main building the corridors link the offices of more than a dozen UN agencies. The central Memorial Plaza is a broad open space surrounded by glass façades and shaded by plane trees. The Vienna office is the third major UN complex after New York and Geneva. It houses agencies such as the International Atomic Energy Agency and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. The library serves staff, diplomatic missions and outside researchers with UN documents in all official languages. A series of research guides covers topics like crime prevention and terrorism prevention. The complex also contains a Persian Scholar Pavilion donated by Iran, featuring statues of Avicenna, Biruni, Rhazes and Omar Khayyam. Visitors walk through landscaped courtyards where modern art lines the walls. The pavilion’s turquoise domes and carved stucco panels recall classical Persian design. A recent mural by street artist Fintan Magee on one of the external walls adds a large peace-themed image to the scene. The pathways lead past the main entrance and continue towards the Danube Canal, offering long views across the water and the city beyond.