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Wiener Stadtpark

Wiener Stadtpark

]] The Viennese City Park (German: Wiener Stadtpark) extends from the Parkring in the First District of Vienna up to the Heumarkt (a street, literally translated as hay market) in the Third District and is visited both by tourists and by native Viennese. The total surface area is 65,000 m².

History

Even as early as in the Biedermeier period, the glacis before the Karolinenstadttor (Caroline City Gate) was a popular site of entertainment. During the demolition of the city walls and the creation of the Vienna Ringstraße in its place, the mayor at that time, Andreas Zelinka, promoted the project of creating a public park on the territory. The park was designed in the style of English gardens by the landscape painter Josef Selleny, while the plans were made by the city gardener Rudolf Siebeck. On 21 August 1862 the park was opened, becoming the first public park in Vienna. 1862 On the southern shore of the Wienfluß, the so-called Kinderpark (Children's park) was created in 1863, which is today still used mainly as a playground and for sports. The Karolinenbrücke (Caroline Bridge), which was built in 1857 (since 1918 it is known as Stadtparkbrücke - City Park Bridge) connects it to the Stadtpark proper on the northern side of the river. After the regulation of the Wienfluss, the whole river area was rebuilt by Friedrich Ohmann and Josef Hackhofer between 1903 and 1907, with a gate out of which the river flows, pavillons and stairs to its shorts. The architecture, together with the U-Bahn station by Otto Wagner, is among the sights of the park.

Sights in the park

The Kursalon

At the water glacis, a spa pavillon was built, in which mineral water with healing properties was served. The current Kursalon building was built between 1865 and 1867 according to plans of Johann Garben. The opulent building in the historicist style of the Italian renaissance is located next to the Johannesgasse. A wide terrace reaching into the park is attached to it. After it was opened on 8 May 1867 amusements were originally prohibited. However, since that concept was not accepted, it was changed, and Johann Strauss II gave his first concert here on 15 October 1868. The Kursalon thus became a popular place for concerts and for dancing, especially during the area of the Strauss brothers. Today, after undergoing some renovation, it is still used for balls, concerts, clubbings and congresses. There is also a Café-Restaurant inside it. Restaurant

Monuments

The gilded bronze monument of Johann Strauß II, is one of the most known and most frequently photographed monuments in Vienna. It was revealed to the public on 26 June 1921 and is framed by a marble relief made by Edmund Hellmer. The gilding was removed in 1935 and laid on again only in 1991. There are several other monuments, e.g. of Franz Schubert, Franz Lehár, Robert Stolz and Hans Makart; the Stadtpark is the park with the largest number of monuments and sculptures in Vienna.

The Meierei

The former milk drinking hall was erected as part of the installations surrounding the Wienfluß according to plans of Friedrich Ohmann and Josef Hackhofer during the years of 1901 to 1903. After suffering heavy damage during World War II, the building was extended during reconstruction. Today, with another annex having been built, there is a restaurant in the Meierei.

Plants

The planting of the City Park is characterized by a large diversity of species. By that design, it was attempted to achieve blooms during all seasons. A parkway bordering the Ringstraße filters noise and emissions from the park. Some groves are natural protection zones, such as a Ginkgo, a Christusdorn, a Pyramid Poplar and Caucasian Wing Nut.

External links

- [http://www.wien.gv.at/ma42/parks/stadtp.htm Official site] Category:Vienna Category:Parks

German language

German (German: ), is a member of the western group of Germanic languages and is one of the world's major languages. It is the language with the most native speakers in the European Union. Spoken by more than 130 million people in 38 countries of the world, German is—like English—a pluricentric language with three main centers of usage: Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Geographic distribution

German is spoken primarily in Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, in two-thirds of Switzerland, in two-thirds of the South Tyrol province of Italy (in German, Südtirol), in the small East Cantons of Belgium, and in some border villages of the South Jutland County (in German, Nordschleswig, in Danish, Sønderjylland) of Denmark. In Luxembourg (in German, Luxemburg), as well as in the French régions of Alsace (in German, Elsass) and parts of Lorraine (in German, Lothringen), the native populations speak several German dialects, and some people also master standard German (especially in Luxembourg), although in Alsace and Lorraine French has for the most part replaced the local German dialects in the last 40 years. Some German speaking communities still survive in parts of Romania, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and above all Russia, Kazakhstan and Poland, although massive relocations to Germany in the late 1940s and 1990s have depopulated most of these communities. Outside of Europe and the former Soviet Union, the largest German speaking communities are to be found in the USA and in Brazil where millions of Germans migrated in the last 200 years; but the great majority of their descendants no longer speak German. Additionally, German speaking communities are to be found in the former German colony of Namibia, as well as in the other countries of German emigration such as Canada, Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, Peru, Venezuela (where Alemán Coloneiro developed), Thailand, and Australia. See also Plautdietsch. In the USA, the largest concentration of German speakers are in Pennsylvania (Amish, Hutterites and some Mennonites speak Pennsylvania German and Hutterite German), Texas (Texas German), North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Wisconsin and Indiana also speak dialects of German. In Brazil the largest concentrations of German speakers are in Rio Grande do Sul, where Riograndenser Hunsrückisch was developed, Santa Catarina, Paraná, and Espírito Santo). Generally, German immigrant communities in the USA have lost their mother tongue more quickly than those who moved to South America, possibly due to the fact that for Germans English is easier to learn than Portuguese or Spanish. German is the main language of about 100 million people in Europe (as of 2004), or 13.3% of all Europeans, being the most spoken language in Europe excluding Russia, above French (66.5 million speakers in Europe in 2004) and English (64.2 million speakers in Europe in 2004). German is the third most taught foreign language worldwide, also in the USA (after Spanish and French); it is the second most known foreign language in the EU (after English; see [http://europa.eu.int/comm/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_237.en.pdf]) It is one of the official languages of the European Union.

History

As a consequence of the colonisation patterns the Völkerwanderung, the routes for trade and communication (chiefly the rivers), and of physical isolation (high mountains and deep forests) very different regional dialects developed. These dialects, sometimes mutually unintelligible, were used across the Holy Roman Empire. As Germany was divided into many different states, the only force working for a unification or standardisation of German during a period of several hundred years was the general preference of writers trying to write in a way that could be understood in the largest possible area. When Martin Luther translated the Bible (the New Testament in 1521 and the Old Testament in 1534) he based his translation mainly on this already developed language, which was the most widely understood language at this time. This language was based on Eastern Upper and Eastern Central German dialects and preserved much of the grammatical system of Middle High German (unlike the spoken German dialects in Central and Upper Germany that already at that time began to lose the genitive case and the preterit tense). In the beginning, copies of the Bible had a long list for each region, which translated words unknown in the region into the regional dialect. Roman Catholics rejected Luther's translation in the beginning and tried to create their own Catholic standard (Gemeines Deutsch) — which, however, only differed from 'Protestant German' in some minor details. It took until the middle of the 18th century to create a standard that was widely accepted, thus ending the period of Early New High German. German used to be the language of commerce and government in the Habsburg Empire, which encompassed a large area of Central and Eastern Europe. Until the mid-19th century it was essentially the language of townspeople throughout most of the Empire. It indicated that the speaker was a merchant, an urbanite, not their nationality. Some cities, such as Prague (German: Prag) and Budapest (Buda, German: Ofen), were gradually Germanized in the years after their incorporation into the Habsburg domain. Others, such as Bratislava (German: Pressburg), were originally settled during the Habsburg period and were primarily German at that time. A few cities such as Milan (German: Mailand) remained primarily non-German. However, most cities were primarily German during this time, such as Prague, Budapest, Bratislava, Zagreb (German: Agram), and Ljubljana (German: Laibach), though they were surrounded by territory that spoke other languages. Until about 1800, Standard German was almost only a written language. In this time, people in urban northern Germany, who spoke dialects very different from Standard German, learnt it almost like a foreign language and tried to pronounce it as close to the spelling as possible. Prescriptive pronunciation guides used to consider that northern German pronunciation to be the standard. However, the actual pronunciation of standard German varies from region to region. Media and written works are almost all produced in standard German (often called Hochdeutsch in German), which is understood in all areas of German languages (except by pre-school children in areas which speak only dialect, for example Switzerland — but in this age of TV, even they now usually learn to understand Standard German before school age). The first dictionary of the Brothers Grimm, the 16 parts of which were issued between 1852 and 1960, remains the most comprehensive guide to the words of the German language. In 1860, grammatical and orthographic rules first appeared in the Duden Handbook. In 1901, this was declared the standard definition of the German language. Official revisions of some of these rules were not issued until 1998, when the German spelling reform of 1996 was officially promulgated by governmental representatives of all German-speaking countries. Since the reform, German spelling has been in an eight-year transitional period where the reformed spelling is taught in most schools, while traditional and reformed spelling co-exist in the media. See German spelling reform of 1996 for an overview of the heated public debate concerning the reform. During the 1870s, the German language successfully replaced Latin as the dominant language in all major European and North American universities, thanks to the prominence of German universities at the time. Most important research in the sciences for some decades afterward was published in German, and new universities preferred German instead of Greek or Latin mottoes (for example, Stanford University).

Classification and related languages

Stanford University is divided into Upper German (blue) and Central German (green), and the Dutch/Plattdüütsch (yellow). The main isoglosses, the Benrath and Speyer lines are marked in red.]] German is a member of the western branch of the Germanic family of languages, which in turn is part of the Indo-European language family.

Neighboring languages

German forms together with Dutch, its closest relative, a coherent and well-defined language area that is separated from its neighbors by language borders. These neighbors are: in the north Frisian and Danish; in the east Polish, Sorbian, Czech, Slovak, and Hungarian; in the south Slovenian, Italian, Friulian, Ladin, and Romansh; in the west French. Except for Frisian, none of these languages are West Germanic, and so they are clearly distinct from German and Dutch. While Frisian is closely related to German and Dutch, it is generally considered not to be mutually intelligible with them. The situation is more complex with respect to the distinction between German and Dutch. Until recently, there has been a dialect continuum throughout the whole German-Dutch language area, with no language borders. In such a dialect continuum, dialects are always mutually intelligible with their neighbors, but dialects that are further apart from each other are often not. The German-Dutch continuum lent itself to a classification of dialects into Low German and High German based on their participation in the High German consonant shift; Dutch is part of the Low German group. However, because of the political separation between Germany and the Netherlands, Low German dialects in the Netherlands and Low German dialects in Germany have started to diverge during the 20th century. Additionally, both in northern Germany and in the Netherlands, many dialects are close to extinction and are being replaced by the German and Dutch standard languages. In this way, a language border between Dutch and German is currently forming. While German is grammatically similar in many ways to Dutch, it is very different in speech. A speaker of one may require some practice to effectively understand a speaker of the other. Compare, for example: :De kleinste kameleon is volwassen 2 cm groot, de grootste kan wel 80 cm worden. (Dutch) :Das kleinste Chamäleon ist ausgewachsen 2 cm groß, das größte kann gut 80 cm werden. (Standard German) : (English: "The smallest chameleon is fully grown 2 cm long, the longest can easily attain 80 cm.") Dutch speakers are generally able to read German, and German speakers who can speak Low German or English are generally able to read Dutch, but have problems understanding the spoken language, although Germans who speak High German, or, even better, Low German, can cope with Dutch much better than people from Southern Germany, Switzerland and Austria who have grown up with the Alemannic or Bavarian dialects.

Official status

Standard German is the only official language in Germany, Liechtenstein, and Austria; it shares official status in Switzerland (with French, Italian and Romansh), and Luxembourg (with French and Luxembourgish). It is used as a local official language in German-speaking regions of Belgium, Italy, Denmark, and Poland. It is one of the 20 official languages of the European Union. It is also a minority language in Canada, France, Russia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Poland, Romania, Togo, Cameroon, the USA, Namibia, Brazil, Paraguay, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Ukraine, Croatia, Moldavia, Australia, Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania. German was once the lingua franca of central, eastern and northern Europe. Increasing influence from the English language has affected German recently. However, German remains one of the most popular foreign languages taught world-wide, and is more popular than French as a foreign language in Europe. 8% of citizens of the EU-15 countries say they can converse in German, in addition to the 24% who speak German as a mother tongue.[http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/policies/lang/languages/index_en.html] This is assisted by the availability of German TV by cable or satellite, where series like Star Trek are shown dubbed into German. German is also the second language of the Internet, more than 8% of the websites are in German (English 50%, French 6%, Japanese 5%, Spanish 3% and Portuguese 2%).

Dialects

The term "German" is used for the dialects of Germany, Austria, German-speaking Switzerland (that is, outside the French-, Italian-, and Romansch-speaking areas) and some areas in the surrounding countries, as well as for several colonies and other ethnic concentrations founded by German-speaking people (for example German in the United States). The variation among the German dialects is considerable. Only the neighbouring dialects are mutually understandable. Most dialects are not understandable for someone who knows standard German. However, all German dialects belong to the dialect continuum of the continental West Germanic languages because any pair of neighbouring dialects is perfectly mutually intelligible. The dialect continuum of the continental West Germanic languages is typically divided into Low Germanic languages and High Germanic languages. Low Germanic is defined as the varieties that were not affected by the High German consonant shift. They consist of two subgroups, Low Franconian and Plattdüütsch (Low German). Low Franconian includes Dutch and Afrikaans, spoken primarily in the Netherlands, Belgium and South Africa; Plattdüütsch includes dialects spoken primarily in the German Lowlands and in the eastern Netherlands. The Plattdüütsch varieties are considered dialects of the German language by some, but a separate language by others; the Low Franconian varieties are not considered a part of the German language (see above for a discussion of the distinction between German and Dutch). High Germanic is divided into Central German and Upper German. Central German dialects include Ripuarian, Moselle Franconian, Rhine Franconian, Hessian, Thuringian and Upper Saxon. It is spoken in the southeastern Netherlands, eastern Belgium, Luxembourg, parts of France, and in Germany approximately between the River Main and the southern edge of the Lowlands. Modern Standard German is mostly based on Central German. The Moselle Franconian varieties spoken in Luxembourg have been officially standardized and institutionalized and are therefore usually considered a separate language, Luxembourgish language. Upper German dialects include Alemannic (for instance Swiss German), Swabian, East Franconian, and Austro-Bavarian. They are spoken in parts of the Alsace, southern Germany, Liechtenstein, Austria, and in the German-speaking parts of Switzerland and Italy. The High German varieties spoken by Ashkenazi Jews (mostly in the former Soviet Union) have several unique features, and are usually considered as a separate language, Yiddish. The dialects of German which are or were primarily spoken in colonies founded by German speaking people resemble the dialects of the regions the founders came from (for example Pennsylvania German resembles dialects of the Palatinate, or Hutterite German resembles dialects of Carinthia). In the United States, the teaching of the German language to latter-age students has given rise to a pidgin variant which combines the German language with the grammar and spelling rules of the English language. It is often understandable by either party. The speakers of this language often refer to it as Amerikanisch or Amerikanischdeutsch, although it is known in English as American German.

Standard German

In German linguistics, only the traditional regional varieties are called dialects, not the different varieties of standard German. Standard German has originated not as a traditional dialect of a specific region, but as a written language. However, there are places where the traditional regional dialects have been replaced by standard German (especially in major cities of Germany, and to some extent in Vienna). Standard German differs regionally, especially between German-speaking countries, especially in vocabulary, but also in some instances of pronunciation and even grammar. This variation must not be confused with the variation of local dialects. Even though the regional varieties of standard German are to a certain degree influenced by the local dialects, they are very distinct. German is thus considered a pluricentric language. In most regions, the speakers use a continuum of mixtures from more dialectical varieties to more standard varieties according to situation. In the German-speaking parts of Switzerland, mixtures of dialect and standard are very seldom used, and the use of standard German is almost entirely restricted to the written language. Therefore, this situation has been called a medial diglossia. Standard German is rarely spoken, for instance when speaking with people who do not understand the Swiss German dialects at all, and it is expected to be used in school.

Grammar

Main article: German grammar German is an inflected language.

Noun inflection

German nouns inflect into:
- one of four declension classes
- one of three genders: masculine, feminine, or neuter. Word endings indicate some grammatical genders; others are arbitrary and must be memorised.
- two numbers: singular and plural
- four cases: nominative, genitive, dative, and accusative case. Although German is usually cited as an outstanding example of a highly inflected language, it should be noted that the degree of inflection is considerably less than in Old German, or in Icelandic today. The three genders have collapsed in the plural, which now behaves, grammatically, somewhat as a fourth gender. With four cases and three genders plus plural there are 16 distinct possible combinations of case and gender/number, but presently there are only six forms of the definite article used for the 16 possibilities. Inflection for case on the noun itself is required in the singular for strong masculine and neuter nouns in the genitive and sometimes in the dative. This dative ending is considered somewhat old-fashioned in many contexts and often dropped, but it is still used in sayings and in formal speech or written language. Weak masculine nouns share an common case ending for genitive, dative and accusative in the singular. Feminines are not declined in the singular. The plural does have an inflection for the dative. In total, six inflectional endings (not counting plural markers) exist in German: -s, -es, -n, -en, -ns, -e In the German orthography, unlike any other orthography, nouns and most words with the syntactical function of nouns are capitalised, which makes it quite easy for readers to find out what function a word has within the sentence. On the other hand, things get more difficult for the writer. Like most Germanic languages, German forms left-branching noun compounds, where the first noun modifies the category given by the second, for example: Hundehütte (eng. doghouse). Unlike English, where newer compounds or combinations of longer nouns are often written in open form with separating spaces, German (like the other German languages) always uses the closed form without spaces, for example: Baumhaus (eng. tree house). Like English, German allows arbitrarily long compounds, but these are rare. (See also English compounds.) The longest official German word is Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz. There is even a child's game played in kindergartens and primary schools where a child begins the spelling of a word (which is not told) by naming the first letter. The next one tells the next letter, the third one tells the third and so on. The game is over when the a child can not think of another letter to be added to the word.

Verb Inflection

Standard German verbs inflect into:
- one of two conjugation classes, weak and strong (like English). (note: in fact there is a third class, called "gemischte Verben", which can be either weak ("active meaning") or strong ("passive meaning")) There are about 200 irregular verbs.
- three persons: 1st, 2nd, 3rd.
- two numbers: singular and plural
- three moods: Indicative, Subjunctive, Imperative
- two genera verbi: active and passive; the passive being composed and dividable into static and dynamic.
- 2 non-composed tenses (Present, Preterite) and 4 composed tenses (Perfect, Plusquamperfect, Future I, Future II)
- no distinction between aspects (in English, perfect and progressive; in Polish between completed and incompleted form; in Turkish between first-hand and second-hand information) There are also many ways to expand, an sometimes radically change, the meaning of a base verb through several prefixes. Example: haften=to stick, verhaften=to imprison The word order is much more flexible than in English. The word order can be changed for subtle changes of a sentence's meaning. In normal positive sentences the verb always has position 2, in questions it has position 1. Most German vocabulary is derived from the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family, although there are significant minorities of words derived from Latin, French, and most recently English.

Writing system

German is written using the Latin alphabet. In addition to the 26 standard letters, German has three vowels with Umlaut, namely ä, ö and ü, as well as a special symbol for "ss", which is used only after long vowels or diphthongs (and not used at all in Switzerland), the Eszett or Scharfes-S (sharp "s") ß. Until the early 20th century, German was mostly printed in blackletter typefaces (mostly in Fraktur, but also in Schwabacher) and written in corresponding handwriting (for example Kurrent and Sütterlin). These variants of the Latin alphabet are very different from the serif or sans serif antiqua typefaces used today, and are difficult for the untrained to read. They were abolished by the Nazis (incorrectly claiming that these letters are Jewish) in 1941 but this has been retained for broader and easier usability.

Alphabet

Main article: German alphabet.

Phonology

Main article: German phonology (pronunciation, historical sound changes).

Cognates with English

There are many German words that are cognate to English words. Most of them are easily identifiable and have almost the same meaning. When these cognates have slightly different consonants, this is often due to the High German consonant shift. There are cognates whose meanings in either language have changed through the centuries. It is sometimes difficult for both English and German speakers to discern the relationship. On the other hand, once the definitions are made clear, then the logical relation becomes obvious. There are many English loanwords in German, and a somewhat smaller number of German loanwords in English. Sometimes these also involve semantic changes, for example German Dogge, 'mastiff', from English dog, or German Handy, 'mobile phone'. German and English also share many borrowings from other languages, especially from Latin, French and Greek, but also from many other languages. Most of these word have the same meaning, while a few have subtle differences in meaning. As many of these words have been borrowed by numerous languages, not only German and English, they are called internationalisms in German linguistics.

Examples of German

Names of the German language in other languages

Because of the turbulent history of both Germany and the German language, the names that other peoples have chosen to use to refer to it varies more than for most other languages. In general, the names for the German language can be arranged in five groups according to their origin: Lao is unique in that both under the influence of English "German" (through Thai "yenman") and French (the colonial language) "Allemand", it chose a name in between: ພາສາເຢຍລະມັນ (phaxa yeylaman), which could be ranked both under category 2 and category 5. Note: The Romanian language used to use in the past the Slavonic term "nemţeşte", but "germană" is now widely used. Hungarian "német" is also a Slavonic loan-word. The Arabic name for Austria, النمسا ("an-namsa"), is derived from the Slavonic term. A possible explanation for the use of "mute" to refer to German (and also to Germans) in Slavic languages is that Germans were the first people Slavic tribes encountered, with whom they could not communicate. The corresponding experience for the Germans was with the Volcae, whose name they subsequently also applied to the Slavs, see etymology of Vlach. Hebrew traditionally (nowadays this is not the case) used the Biblical term Ashkenaz (Genesis 10.3) to refer to Germany, or to certain parts of it, and the Ashkenazi Jews are those who originate from Germany and Eastern Europe and formerly spoke Yiddish as their native language, derived from Middle High German.

External links

-
- [http://www.declan-software.com/german German language learning audio software]
- [http://learno.com/german Online Learno german course] Free online German tutorial at Learno.com
- [http://www.washjeff.edu/capl/ Culturally Authentic Pictorial Lexicon] Free online visual lexicon of the German language with authentic photos from German speaking world.
- [http://www.sprachtausch.net Sprachtausch.net] — German website to find someone to teach you, for example german in exchange with your language.
- [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=deu Ethnologue report for German]
- [http://www.travlang.com/languages/german/ihgg/ Internet Handbook of German Grammar]
- [http://www.lsa.umich.edu/german/hmr/ German resources] at the University of Michigan
- [http://german.languages4everyone.com Learn German Online] with this internet German course for beginners
- [http://www.dw-world.de/dw/0,1595,2469,00.html Deutsche Welle's Online German Courses]
- [http://www.applelanguages.com/en/learn/german.php German courses in Germany]
- [http://www.vds-ev.de Verein Deutsche Sprache] (in German)
- A beginning [http://wikibooks.org/wiki/German German Language Textbook] under development at [http://wikibooks.org/ Wikibooks]
- [http://www.diwa.info/ Digital Wenker-Atlas] Project publishing the 19th century Linguistic Atlas of the German Empire
- [http://www.geocities.com/language_directory/languages/german.htm List of online German-related resources]
- [http://eserver.org/langs/the-awful-german-language.txt That awful German language] — A humourous essay by Mark Twain
- [http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/e/languages/german/index.html Why learn German? A German language profile]
- [http://www.vistawide.com/german/why_german.htm Why learn German?] — 12 reasons to learn German
- [http://www.actilingua.com/german_courses/german_language.php Short summary on German language and varieties with a map!]
- [http://www.ielanguages.com/German.html Free German Language Tutorial from ielanguages.com]
- [http://www.passwort-deutsch.de/ Passwort Deutsch] - A German course
- [http://www.deutsch-lernen.com/ Learn German Online] containing free courses
- [http://www.loecsen.com/travel/discover_pop.php?lang=en&to_lang=1&learn-German/ Learn and listen to useful expressions in German] Each expression is presented with an audio recording and an illustration
- [http://www.expatica.com/source/site_content_subchannel.asp?subchannel_id=37&name=Germany+Education Articles on learning German] Also has a service whereby learners of German can send questions to a German teacher

Dictionary and word translations

- [http://dict.leo.org/ The LEO Online Dictionary] German-English-German dictionary at Leo.org
- [http://dict.tu-chemnitz.de/ TU Chemnitz Dictionary] a 185000+ German-English Dictionary with proverbs and pronounciation
- [http://www.dict.cc/ dict.cc: User-editable German-English-German Dictionary] works similar to Wikipedia, more than 840,000 keywords (420,000 translation pairs)
- [http://odge.info/ Odge.info] uses dict.cc's data according to [http://odge.info/License/ license] page
- [http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/definition/German-english/ German — English Dictionary]: from [http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org Webster's Online Dictionary] — the Rosetta Edition.
- [http://www.canoo.net/index_en.html German Grammar, Online Dictionary for Spelling, Infection and Wordformation for the German Language]
- [http://www.geodic.de GEODic] German-English-Online-Dictionary
- [http://www.woerterbuch.info woerterbuch.info — Free English-German Online Dictionary] with over 600.000 translations
- [http://www.dwds.de The Digital Dictonary Project]in German - Dictionary, Corpus and Statistics
- http://www.dedict.de - English-German Online Dictionary
- http://www.spell-it.net - Free English-German Online Dictionary

Grammar

- [http://www.wm.edu/modlang/gasmit/grammar/grammnu.html Grammar of German]
- [http://www.arts.uwaterloo.ca/~skidmore/grammarpage.htm German Grammar on the Web]
- [http://io.uwinnipeg.ca/~oberle/courses/review.html German Review Grammar]
- [http://www.cas.muohio.edu/~greal/netzgrammatik/grammar.html German Grammar Charts]

Reference

Ringstraße

The Ringstraße is a circular road surrounding the Innere Stadt district of Vienna, Austria and is one of its main sights. It is typical of the historical style called Ringstraßenstil (Ringstraße Style) of the 1860s to 1890s.

History

The street was built to replace the city walls, which had been built during the 13th century and reinforced as a consequence of the First Turkish Siege in 1529, and instead of the glacis, which was about 500m wide. The fortification had been obsolete since the late 18th century, but the Revolution of 1848 was required to trigger a significant change. In 1850, the Vorstädte (today the Districts II to IX) were incorporated into the municipality, which made the city walls a simple impediment to traffic. In 1857, they were finally demolished, and the creation of a boulevards was ordered. Since the Ringstraße had always been meant primarily for show, a parallel Lastenstraße (burden road) was built on the outside of the former glacis. This street is commonly known as 2-er Linie, named after the index "2" in the identifiers of the tram lines which used it. It is still important for through traffic. After some disputes about competence between the government and the municipality, a "City Extension Fund" was created, which was administered by the government. Only the town hall was planned by the city. During the following years, a large number of public and private opulent buildings were erected. Both nobility and the moneyed aristocracy rushed to build showy mansions along the street. One of the first buildings was the Heinrichshof, owned by the beer brewer Heinrich Drasche, which was located opposite the opera house until 1945.

Buildings

Most buildings date back to the time before 1870. The most notable ones include:
- The K.K. Hofoper (now Vienna State Opera), in neo-romantic style by August Sicard von Sicardsburg and Eduard van der Nüll,
- the Akademie der bildenden Künste (Academy of Fine Arts),
- the Justizpalast (now Federal Ministry of Justice),
- the Parliament building, in neo-attic style (a reference to the democracy of ancient Athens) by Theophil von Hansen,
- the Rathaus (Town Hall) in Flemish-gothic style by Friedrich Schmidt,
- the K.K. Hofburgtheater (now Burgtheater) by Karl Freiherr von Hasenauer,
- the University Building, in neo-renaissance style (a reference to the beginnings of the university system in northern Italy,
- the Votivkirche, in neo-gothic style (a reference to the gothic Cathedrals of France) by Heinrich Freiherr von Ferstel,
- the Börse (Stock Exchange),
- the Ringturm, modern 1950's style,
- the Urania observatory,
- the Kriegsministerium (now Regierungsgebäude), in neo-baroque style by Ludwig Baumann,
- the Postsparkasse (Postal Savings Bank), in Jugendstil by Otto Wagner,
- the Museum für Angewandte Kunst (Museum of Applied Arts) in neo-renaissance style by Heinrich Freiherr von Ferstel,
- the Palais Württemberg (now Hotel Imperial),
- the Ringstraßengalerien, also known as the Korso, in modern 1990s style. The only sacred building is the Votivkirche, which was built after Emperor Franz Joseph had been saved from an assassination attempt in 1853. 1853 on October 26, Austria's national holiday, when the Ringstraße is traditionally closed to traffic due to a military parade.]] The Hofburg was extended by an annex, the Neue Hofburg (New Hofburg), which houses the Museum of Ethnology and the Austrian National Library today. On the other side of the street, there are the Kunsthistorisches Museum (Museum of Art History) and the Naturhistorisches Museum (Museum of Natural History), which were built for the imperial collections. Originally, there should have been a parallel wing opposite the Neue Hofburg, which would have been attached to the Museum of Natural History. The Heldenplatz and the Maria-Theresien-Platz would have become the Kaiserforum. However, that plan was shelved for lack of funds. The construction ended only in 1913 with the completion of the Kriegsministerium (Ministry of War). At that time, the Ringstraßenstil was already somewhat outdated, as is shown by the Postsparkassengebäude (Postal Savings Society Building) by Otto Wagner, which was built at the same time. The Ringstraße was also generously planned with green areas and trees, the most notable parks being the Stadtpark with the Kursalon, Burggarten, Volksgarten, and Rathausplatz, as well as a number of squares such as the Schwarzenbergplatz, Schillerplatz, Maria-Theresien-Platz and Heldenplatz. Dotted along the Ringstraße are various monuments. They include statues to Goethe, Schiller, Empress Maria Theresia, Prince Eugene of Savoy, Archduke Charles, the founders of the First Austrian Republic, Athena, Andreas von Liebenberg, Count Radetzky, Georg Coch, and Johann Strauß amongst many. The biggest catastrophe was the fire of the Ringtheater in 1881, in which several hundred people died. It was subsequently demolished and replaced with the Sühnhof, which was built in memory of the more than 300 victims, and openend by Emperor Franz Joseph. It was destroyed during the bombing of Vienna in 1945, today the municipal police-headquarters is there. Other buildings that were destroyed or heavily damaged during WWII was the Opera, the opposite building Heinrichshof which was replaced in the 50's with the Kärtnerhof. The Urania observatory, the Kriegsministerium and the Parliament building were heavily damaged, and the Burgtheater burned down. The famous Metropol Hotel, which was located at the Franz-Joseph-Kai, was completely destroyed and replaced with a monument to the victims of Nazism.

Sections of the Ringstraße

Metropol Hotel The Ringstraße has several sections. It surrounds the central area of Vienna on all side, except for the northeast, where its place is taken by the Franz-Josephs-Kai, the street going along the Donaukanal (a branch of the Danube). Starting from the Ringturm at the northern end of the Franz-Josephs-Kai, the sections are:
- Schottenring
- Dr.-Karl-Lueger-Ring
- Dr.-Karl-Renner-Ring
- Burgring
- Opernring
- Kärntner Ring
- Schubertring
- Parkring
- Stubenring Category:Streets and squares of Vienna Category:Orbital roads Category:World Heritage Sites in Austria

Innere Stadt

The Innere Stadt is the first Viennese Municipality District. The Innere Stadt is the old town of Vienna. Until the city boundaries were expanded in 1850, the Innere Stadt was congruent with the city of Vienna. Traditionally it was divided into four quarters, which were designated after important town gates: Stubenviertel (northeast), Kärntner Viertel (southeast), Widmerviertel (southwest), Schottenviertel (northwest). The Ringstraße circles the Innere Stadt along the route of the former city walls.

Politics

District Presidents

Places of interest

- Albertina
- Burgtheater
- Graben
- Hofburg
- Kapuzinergruft
- Kärntner Straße
- Kunsthistorisches Museum
- Maria am Gestade Church
- Peterskirche
- Ruprechtskirche
- Schottenstift
- Stephansdom
- Vienna City Hall
- Pestsäule
- Virgilkapelle
- Wiener Staatsoper
- Wiener Stadtpark Category:Districts of Vienna

Market

are still common in France. Resellers and farmers sell fruits and vegetables, but also meat and fish, and other products.]] In general parlance, a market is a location where those willing to pay a price for something meet those willing to sell it. In marketing, a market is the sum total of potential buyers of a product. In economics, a market is a mechanism which allows people to trade, normally governed by the theory of supply and demand, and thereby allocates resources through a price mechanism. It typically involves a bid and ask process. Both general markets (where many commodities are traded) and specialised markets (where only one commodity is traded) exist. Markets work by placing many interested sellers in one "place", thus making them easier to find for prospective buyers. An economy which relies primarily on interactions between buyers and sellers to allocate resources is known as a market economy in contrast either to a command economy or to a non-market economy that is based, e.g., on gifts.

Marketplaces and street markets

200px 200px 200px A marketplace is a location where goods and services are exchanged. The traditional market square is a city square where traders set up stalls and buyers browse the merchandise. This kind of market is very old, and countless such markets are still in operation around the whole world.
- In the USA such markets fell out of favor, but renewed interest in local food has cause the reinvention of this type of market, called farmers' markets, in many towns and cities.
- In continental Europe, especially in France, street markets, as well as "marketplaces" (covered places where merchants have stalls, but not entire stores) are commonplace. Both resellers and producers sell their wares to the public.
- Markets are often temporary, with stalls only present for one or two days a week ("market days"), however some (such as Camden Market in London, UK) are open every day of the week. Such markets are normally specialist—the various stalls of Camden Market, along with the shops associated with it, sell a variety of alternative lifestyle products ranging from clothes and jewellery to CDs, instruments and furniture. An example of a large market is Chatuchak weekend market in Bangkok. The Roman term for market, still in use in a related sense, is forum. The modern shopping mall can be seen as an extension of this concept.

Wholesale markets

A wholesale market is a market which primarily sells to traders such as caterers and small shopkeepers, rather than to members of the public, although members of the public are not necessarily excluded. London, England has several centuries old wholesale markets such as Smithfield Market and Billingsgate Fish Market.

Economic markets and marketspaces

In modern times, mainly after the invention of the electronic computer, markets are not always located in a physical space. Such virtual markets consist of communication paths where information exchange is easy and deals may be struck. These are often called marketspaces. A notable example of this is the international currency market. The e-Bay web site can also be considered a marketspace.

Landstraße

Landstraße (literally "country road" in German) is the third district of Vienna. It has 81,281 inhabitants (2001) in an area of 7.42 km². It has existed since approximately 1200 AD. In 1192 the English king Richard the Lionheart was captured in the Erdberg neighbourhood after the unsuccessful Third Crusade. To tourists, it is mostly known for the 18th century castle and gardens of Belvedere, the residence of Eugene of Savoy which today houses the Austrian Gallery. Another residence was built by the Russian envoy to Vienna, Count Razumovsky. A more recent point of interest is the Hundertwasserhaus block of flats (apartment block) designed in a dream-like style by the architect and painter Friedensreich Hundertwasser. Austrian Chancellor Metternich (1773–1859) once remarked that "The Balkans begin at the Rennweg" — which was then a mere road in Landstraße out of Vienna towards the east. Image:Hundertwasserhaus.jpg|The Hundertwasserhaus Image:Belvedere605010.JPG|Belvedere Category:Districts of Vienna

Biedermeier

Biedermeier refers to work in the fields of literature, music, the visual arts and interior design in the period between the years 1815 (Vienna Congress), the end of the Napoleonic Wars, and 1848, the year of the European revolutions and contrasts with the Romantic era which preceded it.

Literature and Music

The term Biedermeier comes from the pseudonym Gottlieb Biedermaier, taken by Joseph Victor von Scheffel in 1848 from the poems Biedermanns Abendgemütlichkeit (Biedermann's Evening Cosiness) and Bummelmeiers Klage (Bummelmeier's Complaint). Later it was used by the country doctor Adolf Kussmaul and the jurist Ludwig Eichrodt in poems, printed in the Munich Fliegenden Blättern (Flying Leaves), parodying the poems of the Biedermeier era as depoliticized and petit-bourgeois. Typical Biedermeier poets are Annette von Droste-Hülshoff, Eduard Mörike and Wilhelm Müller, the last two of which have well-known musical settings by Hugo Wolf and Franz Schubert respectively. Biedermeier can be identified with two trends in early nineteenth-century German history. The first trend is growing urbanization and industrialization leading to a new urban middle class. The early Lieder of Schubert, which were performable at the piano without substantial musical training, serve as examples. Further, Biedermeier writers were mainly middle-class, as opposed to the Romantics, who were mainly drawn from the nobility. The second trend is the growing political oppression following the end of the Napoleonic Wars prompting people to concentrate on the domestic and (at least in public) the non-political. Due to the strict publication rules and the censorship had the consequence, that the main topics written about were unpolitical, eg Historical Fiction or Books about the quiet life in the countryside. This does not mean, that there was not a lot of political discussion going on, but it happened at home and in the presence of close friends. This situation finally lead to the revolutions in Europe in the year 1848.

Architecture

Biedermeier architecture is marked by simplicity and elegance, exemplified by the paintings of Jacob von Alt and Carl Spitzweg. Through the unity of simplicity, mobility and functionality the Biedermeier created tendencies of crucial influence for the Jugendstil / Art Nouveau, the Bauhaus and the 20th century.

References

- Jane K. Brown, in 'The Cambridge Companion to the Lied', ed. James Parsons, 2004, Cambridge. Category:Architectural styles Category:German literature Category:Art of Germany ja:ビーダーマイヤー

City walls

.]] A defensive wall is a fortification used to defend a city from potential aggressors. In ancient to modern times, they were used to enclose settlements. Generally, these are referred to as city walls or town walls, although there were also walls, such as the Great Wall of China and the Atlantic Wall, which extended far beyond the borders of a city and were used to enclose vast regions. Walls are usually made of stone or clay and are generally as tall as a man's own height, although oftentimes much taller. Depending on the topography of the area surrounding the city or the settlement the wall is intended to protect, elements of the terrain (e.g. rivers or rocks) may be incorporated in order to make the wall more effective. Walls may only be crossed by entering the appropriate city gate and are often supplemented with towers. In the middle ages, it was a privilege to be granted to build a defensive wall, and was granted by the so-called "right of fortification". The practice of building these massive walls, though having its origins in prehistory, was refined during the rise of city-states, and energetic wall-building continued into the medieval period and beyond in certain parts of Europe.

History

Defensive walls are an evolved form of the palisades and other defensive measure employed to protect early settlements. From very early history to modern times, walls have been a near necessity for every city. Exceptions were few - notably, ancient Rome did not have a wall for a long time, choosing to rely on its legions for defense instead. In Central Europe, the Celts built large fortified towns known as oppida, whose walls seem partially influenced by those built in the Mediterranean. The fortifications were continously expanded and improved, until the Celts were driven away by the immigrating German tribes. Initially, these fortifications were simple constructions of wood and earth, which were later replaced by mixed constructions of stones piled on top of each other without mortar. The Romans fortified their cities with massive, mortar-bound stone walls. The most famous remainder of this type is the Porta Nigra in Trier, though there also some left in Regensburg and Cologne. Apart from these, the early Middle Ages also saw the creation of some cities built around castles. These cities were only rarely protected by simple stone walls and more usually by a combination of both walls and ditches. From the 12th century AD hundreds of settlements of all sizes were founded all across Europe, who very often obtained the right of fortification soon afterwards. The founding of cities was an important means of territorial expansion and many cities, especially in eastern Europe, were founded precisely for this purpose during the period of Eastern Colonisation. These cities are easy to recognise due to their regular layout and large market spaces. The fortifications of these settlements were continously improved to reflect the current level of military development.

Composition

At its simplest, a defensive wall consists of a wall enclosure and its gates. For the most part, the top of the walls were accessible, with the outside of the walls having tall parapets with embrasures or merlons. North of the Alps, this passegeway at the top of the walls even had a roof. Occasionally, instead of a passageway, loose rocks were placed on top of the wall - these warned the defenders when the assailants were trying to climb the walls. Examples of this can be found in the fortifications of the cities Seßlach and Fladungen. In addition to this, many different enhancements were made over the course of the centuries:
- City ditch: a ditch dug in front of the walls, occasionally filled with water.
- Gate tower: a tower built next to, or on top of the city gates to better defend the city gates
- Wall tower: a tower built on top of a segment of the wall, which usually extended outwards slightly, so as to be able to cover the walls.
- Pre-wall: wall built outside the wall proper, usually of lesser height - the space inbetween was usually further subdivided by additional walls.
- Additional obstacles in front of the walls, e.g. hedges. The defensive towers of west and south European fortifications in the Middle Ages were often very regularly and uniformly constructed (cf. Avila, Provins), whereas Central European city walls tend to show a variety of different styles. In these cases, the gate and wall towers often reach up to considerable heights, and gates equipped with two towers on either side are much rarer. Apart from the purely military, defensive purpose, towers also played an important representative and artistic role in the conception of a fortified complex. In many senses, the architecture of the city thus competed with that of the castle of the noble men and city walls were often a manifestation of the pride of a particular city. Urban areas outside the city walls, so-called Vorstädte, were often enclosed by their own set of walls and integrated into the defense of the city. These areas were often inhabited by the poorer population and held the "noxious trades". In many cities, a new wall was built once the city had grown outside of the old wall. This can often still be seen in the layout of the city, for example in Nördlingen, and sometimes even a few of the old gate towers are preserved, such as the white tower in Nürnberg. Additional constructions prevented the circumvention of the city, through which many important trade routes passed, thus ensuring that tolls were payed when the caravans passed through the city gates, and that the local market was visited by the trade caravans. Furthermore, additional signalling and observation towers were frequently built outside the city, and were sometimes fortified in a castle-like fashion. The border of the area of influence of the city was often partially or fully defended by elaborate ditches, walls and/or hedges. The crossing points were usually guarded by gates or gate houses. These defenses were regularly checked by riders, who often also served as the gate keepers. Long stretches of these defenses can still be seen to this day, and even some gates are still intact. To further protect their territory, rich cities also established castles in their area of influence. A famous examples of this practice is the Rumanian "Dracula Castle" Bran in Törzburg, which was intended to protect Kronstadt (today's Brasov). The city walls were often connected to the fortifications of hill castles via additional walls . Thus the defenses were made up of city and castle fortifications taken together. Several examples of this are preserved, for example in Germany Hirschorn on the Neckar, Königsberg and Pappenheim, Franken, Burghausen in Oberbayern and many more. A few castles were more directly incorporated into the defensive strategy of the city (e.g Nürnberg, Zons, Carcassonne), or the cities were directly outside the castle as a sort of "pre-castle" (Coucy-le-Chateau, Conwy and others). Larger cities often had multiple stewards - for example Augsburg was divided into a Reichstadt and a bishopal (clerical) city. These different parts were often separated by their own fortifications. With the development of firearms came the necessity to expand the existing installation, which occured in multiples stages. Firstly, additional, half-circular towers were added in the interstices between the the walls and pre-walls (s.a.) in which a handful of cannons could be placed. Soon after, reinforcing structures - or "bastions" - were added in strategically relevant positions, e.g. at the gates or corners. A well-preserved example of this is the Spitalbastei in Rothenburg. However, at this stage the cities were still only protected by relatively thin walls which could offer little resistance to the cannons of the time. Therefore new, star-shaped forts with numerous cannons and thick earth walls reinforced by stone were built. These could resist cannon fire for prolonged periods of time. However, these massive fortifications severly limited the growth of the cities, as it was much more difficult to move them as compared to the simple walls previously employed - to make matters worse, it was forbidden to build "outside the city gates" for strategic reasons and the cities became more and more densely populated as a result.

Decline

In the wake of city growth and the ensuing change of defensive strategy, focussing more on the defense of forts around cities, most city walls were demolished. Nowadays, the presence of former city fortifications can often only be deduced from the presence of ditches or parks. Furthermore, some street names hint at the presence of fortifications in times past, for example when words such as "gate", "wall, or "glacis" occur. In the 19. century, less emphasis was placed on preserving the fortifications for the sake of their architectural or historical value - on the one hand, complete fortifications were restored (Carcassone), on the other hand many structures were demolished in an effort to modernise the cities. An notable exception in this is the "monument preservation" law by the Bavarian King Ludwig I., which led to the nearly complete preservation of many impressive monuments such as the Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Nördlingen and Dinkelsbühl . The countless small fortified towns in the Franken region were also preservered as a consequence of this edict.

Modern Era

Walls and fortified wall structures were built in the modern era, too. They did not, however have the original purpose of being a structure able to resist a prolonged siege or bombardment. The Berlin's city wall from the 1730s to the 1860s was partially made of wood. Its primary purpose was to enable the city to impose tolls on goods and, secondarily, also served to prevent the desertion of soldiers from the garrison in Berlin. The Berlin wall was a different form of wall, in that it did not primarily serve the purpose of protection of an enclosed settlment. It's primary purpose was to prevent the crossing of the Berlin border between the DDR and the BRD exclave of west-Berlin. Further walls of the 20. century are found in Israel where many exclaves of Jewish settlements are surrounded by fortified walls. Additionally, in some countries, different embassies may be grouped together in a single "embassy district", enclosed by a fortified complex with walls and towers - this usually occurs in regions where the embassies run a high risk of being target of attacks. Most of these "modern" city walls are made of steel and concrete. Vertical concrete plates are put together so as to allow the least space in between them, and are rooted firmly in the ground. The top of the wall is often protruding and beset with barbed wire in order to make climbing them more difficult. These walls are usually built in straight lines and covered by watchtowers at the corners. Double walls, i.e. two walls with an interstitial "zone of fire" (cf. the Berlin wall) are rare.

Africa

- Zinder, Nigeria was well known for its city wall, the remains of which can still be seen.

Austria

- Vienna (destroyed)

Canada

- Quebec City, Quebec is the only fortified city north of Mexico whose walls still exist, in the Americas.

China

- Great Wall of China
- Chinese cities occasionally have remnants of city walls that were built in the Ming Dynasty and designed to withstand artillery bombardment. Chinese cities generally outgrew their walls, which fell into disrepair in the Qing dynasty. The city of Xi'an has well-preserved walls with a water filled moat that is a tourist attraction incorporating small parks surrounding a busy and modern area of the city.
- The walls of Beijing were demolished during the 1960s to open large streets around the city. A metro line also follows the location of the former city walls.
- Jingzhou
- Pingyao
- Walled villages can still be found in Mainland China and Hong Kong.

Croatia

- Dubrovnik has well-preserved city fortifications including towers, gate, rampart walk and two citadels guarding the docks.
- Stone walls built in 14th-16th century, at the isthmus of the Pelješac peninsula, to the north of Dubrovnik; 890 meters long town wall and 5 km Great Wall outside the town
- Karlovac city walls, built in 1579 as a six-point star with bastions.
- The town of Split retains much of its ancient wall.

France

- Aigues-Mortes
- Arles (partial remains)
- Avignon
- Carcassonne
- Dinan
- La Couvertoirade
- Langres
- Maginot Line
- Saint-Malo's old town

Germany

Saint-Malo]
- Ahrweiler
- Annaberg-Buchholz
- Amberg
- Andernach
- Bad Münstereifel
- Bautzen/Sa.
- Berching/Opf.
- Bernau bei Berlin
- Blankenburg (Harz)
- Boppard
- Brandenburg
- Büdingen
- Dettelbach/Ufr.
- Dinkelsbühl/Mfr.
- Dollnstein/Altmühltal
- Donauwörth/Bay.
- Ebern/Ufr.
- Eibelstadt/Ufr.
- Eichstätt/Altmühltal
- Fladungen/Rhön, Ufr.
- Forchheim/Ofr.
- Freiberg/Sa.
- Freinsheim
- Frickenhausen/Ufr.
- Fritzlar/Hess.
- Gerolzhofen/Ufr.
- Greding/Altmühltal
- Heidingsfeld(Würzburg)/Ufr.
- Ingolstadt/Obb.
- Iphofen/Ufr.
- Jena
- Karlstadt am Main/Ufr.
- Kaufbeuren/Allgäu
- Korbach
- Kronach/Ofr.
- Landsberg am Lech/Obb.
- Mainbernheim/Ufr.
- Memmingen/Allgäu
- Merkendorf/Mfr.
- Mühlhausen/Thür.
- Müncheberg
- Münnerstadt/Ufr.
- Nabburg/Opf
- Neubrandenburg
- Neuburg an der Donau/Obb.
- Neustadt an der Saale/Ufr.
- Nördlingen
- Nürnberg
- Oberwesel/Rhein
- Ochsenfurt/Ufr.
- Ornbau/Mfr.
- Pappenheim/Altmühltal
- Rodach/Ofr.
- Rostock
- Röttingen/Ufr.
- Rothenburg ob der Tauber/Mfr.
- Schongau/Obb.
- Seßlach/Ofr.
- Soest
- Sommerhausen/Ufr
- Stralsund,
- Templin
- Ulm an der Donau
- Vellberg/BW
- Warburg (Westfalia)
- Wemding/Bavaria
- Weißenburg/Mfr.
- Wittstock
- Wolframs-Eschenbach/Mfr.
- Würzburg/Ufr.
- Zerbst/Sa.-Anh.
- Zeil am Main/Ufr.
- Zons
- Zwickau
- The German Democratic Republic claimed that the Berlin Wall (and the whole DDR border system) was defensive; but it was rather intended to prevent unauthorized emigration.

Greece

- Thessaloniki
- Iraklion
- Rhodes
- Monemvassia
- Ioannina This is just a short list

Hungary

- Buda

Israel

- Jerusalem's Old City Walls
- The walls of Akko (Acre) - 18th century modern Ottoman fortification able to withstand cannons attack. The wall has been restored and now includes rampart for tourists.

Ireland

- Pale

Middle East

- Jericho's Ancient City Walls - probably the most ancient stone wall ever discovered.

Morocco and Western Sahara

- In the 1980s, Morocco built a system of sand wall defenses, the Moroccan Wall (also known as the "Western Sahara walls" or "berm"), to keep the Polisario out of the Western Sahara.

the Netherlands

- 's-Hertogenbosch
- Maastricht

Philippines

- Intramuros - partially preserved, partially restored after WWII. Original walls are still on are well preserved.
- Fort San Pedro - in Cebu
- Fort San Antonio Abad - in Manila
- Fort Pillar- a Spanish defence fort in the island of Mindanao Mindanao

Poland

- Warsaw - partially preserved, partially restored after World War II, barbican restored
- Kraków - only the barbican and some traces preserved
- Zamość - complete renaissance and 19th century walls preserved
- Toruń
- Grudziądz
- Włocławek
- Tyniec

Spain

- Ávila
- Barcelona has portions of a Roman wall.
- Girona
- Lugo has a complete ringwall, some parts dating back to Roman times.
- Toledo

Sweden

- Visby
- Gothenburg has a part of the western city wall left, the bastion Carolus Rex at Esperanto platsen (Esperanto square) and most of the city moat is still left.
- Stockholm has a small remainder of the medeival city wall preserved.

Turkey

- Istanbul

United Kingdom

- Fragments of London Wall, the wall that once surrounded the Roman town of Londinium, are still visible just outside the Museum of London and at Tower Hill.
- The extensive remnains of the York city walls are both a shortcut above the streets and, as in many places, a tourist attraction.
- The walls of Coventry were demolished in 1662 and now only a few fragments survive.
- Berwick-upon-Tweed
- Canterbury
- Chester
- Chichester
- Conwy
- Londonderry
- Stirling
- Warwick
- Antonine Wall
- Hadrian's Wall

United States

- Wall Street, in New York City, is named after New York's old city wall, long since dismantled.