Walzerkönig Johann Strauss in den Sofiensälen Wien

Die wahre Heimat des Wiener Walzers

- Strauss in the Sofiensäle -

Venue and its history

The carefully renovated Sofiensäle concert hall in Vienna is protected as a historic monument and has excellent acoustics and highly modern technology. The hall is fully air conditioned.

In 1838, Franz Morawetz built a Russian-style steam bath immediately adjacent to the modern day Sofiensäle. The bath was named after Archduchess Sophie, mother of Kaiser Joseph I., and expanded over the subsequent few years. The large room in the Sophie baths was used as a swimming baths in summer and from 1848 was also used in winter as a concert hall and ballroom.

For more than 50 years until his death in 1899, Johann Strauss appeared in person at over 200 events.

The unique acoustics in the building meant that many recordings of operas and symphonies were made with the Viennese Philharmonic Orchestra between 1950 and 1980 under well known conductors such as Herbert von Karajan, Leonard Bernstein and Karl Böhm.

In the mid-1970s, national and international bands and artists such as Falco, Kraftwerk and The Kinks played here. In 2001, the Sofiensäle were destroyed by a devastating fire caused by repair work being carried out on the roof.

The Sofiensäle were renovated in collaboration with the Federal Monuments Office and were able to be used once again for cultural events, exhibitions, corporate events, conferences and meetings from 2014.