EXHIBITION DESIGN

Espresso at Last!
Café Arabia on Kohlmarkt

Jewish Museum Vienna

In 1951, Café Arabia opened on Kohlmarkt in the heart of Vienna. It was one of the first establishments to bring Italian espresso culture to the city—a hub of coffee culture—which promptly caused quite a stir. The Arabia was also one of the most significant designs by architect Oswald Haerdtl, who created a total work of art here. Behind the concept was Alfred Weiss, who had already successfully built up the company Arabia Kaffee-Tee-Import during the interwar period. In 1938, the business was “Aryanized”; Weiss and his family were forced to flee. His daughters survived in England, while he and his wife, after wandering through Europe, found refuge in Rome. Energetic and undaunted, Alfred Weiss returned to postwar Vienna and developed the restored company into one of Austria’s leading coffee brands, with the Palais Auersperg serving as its corporate headquarters and event center. The renowned graphic designer Joseph Binder had shaped the Arabia brand through his corporate design, though in doing so he also perpetuated colonialist stereotypes. In 1999, Café Arabia closed. Nothing remained of the groundbreaking architecture of the 1950s.