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Austria was once the centre of music in Europe with some of the regions absolute greats having had a connection to either Vienna or Salzburg. Austria, however, is now a modern country that can offer a great palate of cultural treats.
Apart from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Sigmund Freud and the painter Gustav Klimt, Austria has produced a number of authors and artists that rightfully deserve attention as well. Writers like Stefan Zweig and Arthur Schnitzler are highly important figures within Austrian literature, both were immensely popular amongst their contemporaries. Nobel Laureate Elfriede Jelinek is a Viennese writer who has gained acclaim in more recent years.
Austrian cinema has also proven that it can offer more to the world of film than ex-pat Arnold Schwarzenegger. The film-pioneer Fritz Lang who was most famous for Metropolis was born in Vienna in 1890. German-born but Austria-based Michael Haneke is arguably one of the biggest names within Austrian film and has as such received numerous prizes to confirm his position.
It is of course music that has dominated Austrian cultural history the most, with Mahler, the Strauss', The Haydn's and of course Mozart playing some of the key roles in this. Mozart even made it onto the charts in the 1980s, albeit as an homage paid by Austrian rock-icon Falco in his hit Rock Me Amadeus.