They stand there like a memorial: the anti-aircraft towers of Vienna. They get their name from the anti-aircraft guns mounted on their roofs. They recall a time that we'd rather forget. Concrete giants of horror. Six of them. Always built in pairs. A turret and a guide tower.
It is hard to believe that two of these towers stand in the most Baroque of Vienna's gardens. The contrast could scarcely be greater: a bunker from the Second World War stands in the Augarten, surrounded by avenues in the French style. In summer, people picnic in the shade of the towers in the meadow, people jog and children play against the backdrop of the turret. Like a monolith, it rises 55 m into the sky and yet blends into the park like a Baroque building – almost as if it had always been there.
Blasting impossible!
The detonation would be too strong, so thick are the concrete walls. Today, the towers with the code name "Peter" are populated only by pigeons and are rotting away unstoppably.
