Venedig in Wien

A permanent modern theme park stood for a few years in the Prater before the present giant wheel. Three islands formed the core of the park, each with a large square framed by canals and buildings in Venetian style. The whole 50,000 square metre area lay on the Kaiserwiese, where the waterways were dug and lined with copies of historic palaces. The project was led by Camillo Walzel, with Gabor Steiner as entrepreneur and Oskar Marmorek as architect. Real Venetian gondolas carried visitors along a one-kilometre canal that had a gentle slope and two large basins for boarding. Gondolieri from Venice steered the boats, while singers such as Fritzi Massary and Mizzi Zwerenz performed on the squares. A restaurant, café with terrace, panorama hall and marionette theatre stood around the water. Visitors found themselves in a miniature Venice of campi, palazzi and flowing water. A round painting of Emperor Franz Joseph by Ernst Philipp Fleischer greeted guests at the entrance. New attractions were added each season, including the giant wheel in 1897. After only six years the canals were drained and the site became a summer theatre, later part of the Kaisergarten complex.