Hohe Warte Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium

Multi-purpose stadium

Multi-purpose stadiums are a type of stadium designed in such a way as to be easily used by multiple sports. While any stadium could potentially host more than one sport, this concept usually refers to a specific design philosophy that stresses multi-functionality over specificity...

 in Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

, Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

. It is located on the Hohe Warte

Hohe Warte, Vienna

The Hohe Warte is a hill in the 19th district of the city of Vienna, Döbling between Heiligenstadt and Unterdöbling. There is also a street with the same name. In the 19th century, a number of villas were built on the Hohe Warte because it offered good views of the surrounding areas...

 hill in Heiligenstadt

Heiligenstadt, Vienna

Heiligenstadt was an independent municipality until 1892 and is today a part of Döbling, the 19th district of Vienna.Heiligenstadt is one of the 10 municipalities in the Döbling District.- Geography :...

, a northern suburb in the 19th Viennese district

District

Districts are a type of administrative division, in some countries managed by a local government. They vary greatly in size, spanning entire regions or counties, several municipalities, or subdivisions of municipalities.-Austria:...

 of Döbling

Döbling

Döbling is the 19th District in the city of Vienna, Austria . It is located on the north end from the central districts, north of the districts Alsergrund and Währing...

. Primarily a football

Football (soccer)

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

 venue and the home of First Vienna FC

First Vienna FC

First Vienna FC is an Austrian association football club based in the Döbling district of Vienna. Established on 22 August 1894, it is the country's oldest team and has played a notable role in the history of the game there...

, it has also occasionally played host to Austrian international rugby union

Rugby union

Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

 matches and the Vienna Vikings American Football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 team.

History

The stadium was opened in 1921 and was contemporaneously considered the best and biggest sporting venue in continental Europe. The Austrian national football side

Austria national football team

The Austria national football team is the association football team that represents the country of Austria in international competition and is controlled by the Austrian Football Association ....

 played numerous matches there in the 1920s and 1930s, attracting the ground's record attendance of 85,000 people when playing Italy

Italy national football team

The Italy National Football Team , represents Italy in association football and is controlled by the Italian Football Federation , the governing body for football in Italy. Italy is the second most successful national team in the history of the World Cup having won four titles , just one fewer than...

 in 1923. Around this time the venue also hosted boxing

Boxing

Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...

 bouts like Georges Carpentier

Georges Carpentier

Georges Carpentier was a French boxer. He fought mainly as a light heavyweight and heavyweight in a career lasting from 1908-26. Nicknamed the "Orchid Man", he stood and his fighting weight ranged from...

 versus Arthur Townley on 1 May 1924 and even open-air opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

 performances like on 24 July 1924 when an audience of 20,000 attended Aida

Aida

Aida sometimes spelled Aïda, is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni, based on a scenario written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette...

conducted by Pietro Mascagni

Pietro Mascagni

Pietro Antonio Stefano Mascagni was an Italian composer most noted for his operas. His 1890 masterpiece Cavalleria rusticana caused one of the greatest sensations in opera history and single-handedly ushered in the Verismo movement in Italian dramatic music...

. It was also occasionally used as a giant Movie Theater in the years immediately following the Second World War.

Hohe Warte lost its status as Austria's leading stadium with the construction of the Prater Stadion (present-day Ernst-Happel-Stadion) in 1931, however, First Vienna's championship success in the 1940s and 1950s ensured that crowds remained high.

Description

The stadium is constructed into the side of a hill, creating a natural amphitheatre

Amphitheatre

An amphitheatre is an open-air venue used for entertainment and performances.There are two similar, but distinct, types of structure for which the word "amphitheatre" is used: Ancient Roman amphitheatres were large central performance spaces surrounded by ascending seating, and were commonly used...

. Adding to the natural feel is the fact that three of the four sides of the ground boast grass banking, as opposed to the more traditional concrete, giving the ground an overwhelmingly green appearance (similar to The Valley in its early days). The fourth side of the ground features a modern main stand and is currently the only part of the stadium in use, following a council

City council

A city council or town council is the legislative body that governs a city, town, municipality or local government area.-Australia & NZ:Because of the differences in legislation between the States, the exact definition of a City Council varies...

directive forbidding the use of the grass banking on safety grounds. As a result, the stadium's capacity since the 2005-06 season has been only 5,500. However, this does not stop people peering into the ground.