The Wiener Festwochen (Vienna Festival) is a cultural festival in Vienna that takes place every year for five or six weeks in May and June. The Wiener Festwochen was established in 1951, when Vienna was still occupied by the four Allies.
The opening of the Wiener Festwochen is an open-air event with free admission held in the square in front of Vienna’s City Hall.
Each year the festival attracts about 180,000 visitors.
Directors
Directors of the festival include: 1951–1958: Adolph Ario 1959: Rudolf Gamsjäger 1960–1964: Egon Hilbert 1964–1977: Ulrich Baumgartner 1978–1979: Gerhard Freund 1980–1984: Helmut Zilk 1984–1991: Ursula Pasterk 1991–1996: Klaus Bachler 1997–2001: Luc Bondy / Klaus-Peter Kehr / Hortensia Völckers 2002–2013: Luc Bondy 2014–2016: Markus Hinterhäuser 2017–2021: Tomas Zierhofer-Kin 2019–present: Christophe Slagmuylder, whose term ends in 2024