Tours · Vienna · Café

Café Central

The grandest of Viennese coffeehouses and the intellectual battleground where Freud's great rival, Alfred Adler, held court after their bitter schism.

About this place

Café Central is not just a place for cake; it is the birthplace of 20th-century intellectualism. While Sigmund Freud preferred the quiet dignity of Café Landtmann, Central was the boisterous, cigar-smoke-filled arena for writers, revolutionaries, and psychoanalysts. Most notably, it became the headquarters for Alfred Adler, Freud’s brilliant former disciple. After a bitter falling out over Freud's strict theories on sexuality, Adler broke away to found Individual Psychology, holding his own intense debates right here beneath the vaulted ceilings.

Key facts

  • 1876 year — Café Central was opened in the Palais Ferstel
  • 1911 year — Alfred Adler officially broke away from Freud's psychoanalytic circle
  • 250 newspapers — Were available daily in the café during its intellectual golden age

📍 Strauchgasse, 1010, Wien

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