Heiligenstadt lies on flat land abutting the Danube canal and forms a thin strip that stretches to the north-west as far as Leopoldsberg.

The municipality covers an area of 219.46 hectares, bordering in the north on Nußdorf and Josefsdorf, in the west on Grinzing, and in the south on Unterdöbling and Oberdöbling.

The term Sanctum Locum (Heiligenstadt) first appears in documents at the end of the 12th century, although it is unclear which holy site is being referred to.

In 1872, remains of a wall were found in Heiligenstadt that prove that a Roman tower, part of the limes once stood in this area.

Matthias Corvinus laid waste to Heiligenstadt in 1484, while Turkish plundering during the first siege of Vienna in 1529 greatly damaged the Jakobskirche and the Michaelskirche (St. Michael's Church).

Heiligenstadt's recovery was helped at the end of the 18th century by the construction of a public bath that made use of a hot-water spring.

But he returned from the town with a rejuvenated outlook as well as new priorities in his music (the start of his "Middle Period"), and lived for a further 25 years.

In 1892, Heiligenstadt was officially integrated into the city of Vienna together with the surrounding suburbs Sievering, Grinzing, Oberdöbling, Unterdöbling, Nußdorf and Kahlenbergerdorf.

In 1898, the Heiligenstadt train station, designed by Otto Wagner, was opened as a transfer point between the Emperor Franz Joseph Railway, which had entered service in 1870, the Wiener Stadtbahn, and the Vorortelinie.

Following World War I, the social democrat municipal government pursued a policy of building affordable accommodation in order to improve the miserable living conditions of the working classes.

To this end, the enormous Karl-Marx-Hof was constructed in Heiligenstadt on land where until the 12th century there had been an arm of the Danube that was deep enough for ships to use and where fruit and vegetable gardens had later stood.

The complex, which includes 1382 apartments, was constructed by Karl Ehn, one of Otto Wagner's students and technical director for the City of Vienna.

Other notable companies included Barawitzka (known later as Engel), which produced parquet here between 1838 and 1932, the machine factory Heinrich (1840 to 1964) and the Just-Leitern-AG, which was founded in 1885 and still operates in Lower Austria.

established on 22 August 1894, it is the country's oldest team and has played a notable role in the history of the game in Austria.