The research started with a first site, the Lainzer Tiergarten in Vienna.
History of the Lainzer Tiergarten
The Lainzer Tiergarten has first been written about in 1457 as „Thier- und Saugarten“ near Hütteldorf. In 1560 emperor Ferdinand I. bought the Auhof with the surrounding forests and built a wooden fence around this hunting ground.
Empress Maria Theresia gives away the ancient Habsburg family property to the state in 1755, but the shooting right still belonged to the imperial family.
She then ordered that the wild boars need to be extirpate because of the damage caused by them. The nobility of Vienna insisted on a hunting ground, so the planning for a locked „Tiergarten“ began.
In 1781 emperor Josef II. acquires the hunting rights for the imperial court in other parts of the Tiergarten.
Between 1782 and 1787 the first wall out of stone is built. At that Time, the Tiergarten basically had the same dimensions as today.
In 1849, a new hunting law passes (Reichsjagdgesetz). Now it was no longer allowed to hunt on someone else‘s ground and the Tiergarten was owned by the state. So the imperial family was therefore no longer allowed to hunt animals.
The solution was then the „Hofärarisches Eigentum“: this means the areal is property owned by the state, but the imperial family still has the right to use it how they wish.
After World War I and the downfall of the monarchy, the Tiergarten was openend for the population of Vienna to collect firewood. The Tiergarten then became property of a funds for war affected people (Kriegsgeschädigtenfonds) until 1937.
In 1941 the Tiergarten was declared as a nature reserve, but during the war the meadows were used for herds of cattle and there was more agricultural use.
In the late 1950s, tourism increased and the tavern „Rohrhaus“ was openend and in 1969 the oak forest „Johannser Kogel“ becomes a natural monument.
