Greeks in Austria

[3] Despite popular narratives to the effect that a Greek community settled in Vienna as a result, or that Byzantine customs and even songs were introduced into Austria at the time, this is not corroborated by the sources.

The 1718 Treaty of Passarowitz led to the establishment of formal commercial relations between the Habsburg monarchy and the Ottoman Empire, followed by the foundation of the Imperial Privileged Oriental Company.

[5] As a result, a wave of Greek merchants, principally from Macedonia, began activities in Central Europe, leading to the establishment of trading colonies across the region.

[6] Vienna, as the capital of the Habsburgs and possessing an important geographical position between the Ottoman Balkans and Central and Northern Europe, attracted the lion's share of such immigrants.

In 1814, the Count Ioannis Kapodistrias, at that time Foreign Minister of the Russian Empire, in collaboration with Anthimos Gazis, founded in Vienna the Philomuse Society, an educational organization promoting philhellenism, such as studies for the Greeks in Europe.