Sparkling Vienna

A combination of different sources of light and various light-refracting elements such as glass and gems ensure that a chandelier makes a lasting impression. Family-owned Viennese manufacturer J. & L. Lobmeyr (est. 1823) on Kärntner Strasse produces high quality crystal glassware. Together with sister company, Zahn it also makes chandeliers in a range of shapes and styles. They once supplied the Hofburg, Schönbrunn Palace, Bavarian royal palaces and numerous European dynastic residences. One of the best known and most impressive contemporary designs is the Exploding Star crystal chandelier which first appeared at the New York Metropolitan Opera in 1966. Antique chandeliers are also painstakingly restored in the Lobmeyr workshops. 

Any visitor to Vienna on the lookout for a stylish chandelier should visit Woka Lamps Vienna in Singerstrasse, a short distance from St. Stephen's Cathedral. Woka manufactures exclusive lamps made according to original designs by Josef Hoffmann, Otto Wagner, Kolo Moser and Adolf Loos. Visitors to the showroom in the baroque Palais Breuner can marvel at Josef Hoffmann's crystal chandelier for Stoclet Palace in Brussels or Otto Wagner's designs. These high value reproductions are handmade in small batches according to the original plans and, whenever possible, using original tools. Woka also offers a broad range of antique chandeliers. 

The most contemporary interpretations of the chandelier can be found at Vienna design studio walking-chair, including Fidel Peugeot and Karl Emilio Pircher's "My first chandelier". The piece consists of a dozen hand-worked crystal pendants supplied by an Austrian chandelier maker which are mounted on a frame over an exposed light bulb - a chandelier for beginners.

The municipal council meeting room at City Hall is home to one of the world's largest chandeliers. Weighing in at 3,200 kg, it has 213 bulbs and a diameter of over five meters. The piece was originally made for the 1878 World Fair in Paris and eventually found its way to Vienna's City Hall.