Touring the Vienna Headquarters of the United Nations

I’ve got a confession; I didn’t know there was a United Nations headquarters in Vienna until I saw the building on the map. Such a discovery demanded immediate exploration. I took U1 over the Danube to Kaisermühlen VIC, or the Vienna International Center. From there I had to go through some airport-level security to enter the visitor lobby.

The only way to get into the actual headquarters is through a guided tour. Tours leave at 11:00 and 2:00 daily. I was lucky, and got there just before the 2:00 English tour. Another student from Mexico and two German students joined me.

Before you can exit the visitor area, you have to pick up a badge at the reception desk, by showing them your ticket. Then you get to scan your badge and go through these cool slidey doors. I felt very official as we stepped out into the courtyard. This is where the flags from the 193 member states are displayed in alphabetical order.

My badge

 

 

Did you know? There are two observer states in the UN, Vatican City and Palestine attend conferences, but cannot vote and do not fund the UN. 

Built in 1979 by the Austrian government, the buildings and land are rented to the UN for 1 Euro a year. Provisions are in place to protect the diplomatic grounds, however. All security matters are handled by the UN Security Force. Austrian military and police can only enter the grounds by invitation, like vampires.

They had a model of the center

The buildings are fun curvy Y shapes

The largest part of the headquarters in Vienna is home to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). They were started during the heyday of the Cold War, so a lot of their focus is on nuclear disarmament. Now, their mission also includes safety and research for nuclear power. We couldn’t go into their actual offices, for obvious reasons. But, there was a video screen where you could watch every nuclear missile test ever launched.  You can watch a version here.

Inside the headquarters there was also a conference room. This is where all of the delegates meet to discuss pressing global issues. Other conferences are held there as well. While we were there, the Zero Project, dedicated to barrier-free access to public spaces, was meeting inside. I thought the conference room was fascinating. Just image all of the important people from around the world who have been in that room. Plus, the room was huge, holding up to 1,400 people at max capacity.

Above the conference room there are also much smaller rooms where the official translators sit. They work to translate everything into the six official languages of the UN: English, French, Russian, Arabic, Chinese, and Spanish. It is such a grueling job that they have to take breaks every 15 minutes.

This is only one third of the conference room

The rest of our tour consisted of small exhibits about different UN projects and areas of focus. There was a refugee tent and an exhibit about space exploration. They were interesting, but somewhat generic. I got the feeling that at the space in Geneva, for example, you could probably see similar things.

space ships

A refugee tent

Inside there was also a lot of art that had been given to the UN by different artists and countries as gifts. There was a rug from Hundertwasser, a very famous Austrian architect and a mural from Japan. If you are interested, they host a special tour during the week just focused on the art in the buildings.

The rug from Hudertwasser is on the far right

I learned a lot that day. When I woke up, I had no idea that the UN even operated in Vienna, and on the train ride home, I was stuffed with knowledge about their history and mission here. I think seeing not only the headquarters, but also the huge area that has grown up around it, helped me see Vienna as the international city that it is.