Hietzing - Coat of Arms

Coat of Arms

The crest of the Hietzing District consists of five parts: Hietzing (center), Hacking (top left), Sankt Veit (top right), Speising (bottom left) and Lainz (bottom right). In the tree crown, one finds the Virgin Mary with baby Jesus, in the golden rays of the cross, flanked by two angels. Under the tree, four farmers are praying.

There is a legend as to the origin of the Mother of God in the emblem, but also the origin of the name derived Hietzing. During the 2nd Turkish Siege, Hietzing was still a small village. When the Turks advanced, Hietzinger had to hide a valuable statue from her parish church in the crown of a large oak tree, and then sought refuge in nearby Vienna. Four young farmers had one day ventured into the deserted city. There, they were promptly taken prisoner by a Turkish patrol and tied to a tree: just at the tree where the statue was hidden. The four unfortunates had since begun to pray to the Mother of God, when their chains fell and a voice from the tree uttered the words: "Hiatz eng!" (Hütet Euch! or "Beware!"). In gratitude for the salvation of the four men, then the place was named after these cautionary words of the Mother of God; the passage of time had changed the name to "Hietzing".