Flak Tower in the Augarten: A Monument to a Dark Past

In the Augarten, one of Vienna's oldest baroque gardens, two hulking concrete towers rise above the treetops. The flak tower in the Augarten is among the best known of its kind in Vienna and still bears witness to one of the darkest chapters of the city's history.

Built in the Final Years of the War

The towers were built in 1944, shortly before the war's end, as defence structures against air raids. The complex consists of a gun tower and a control tower, the gun tower standing 55 metres tall with walls up to 3.5 metres thick. More than 45,000 cubic metres of reinforced concrete went into the structures, a scale that made their demolition after the war practically impossible.

A Walk Through History

The towers themselves are not open to the public, but can be viewed up close from outside. A walk through the Augarten passes both towers on the way to the Augarten Palace and its porcelain manufactory, pairing a stroll through greenery with a close look at history.