instance_of m8 motorway 
Vienna is the ___MASK66___ and largest city of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria . Vienna is Austria ' s primary city , with a population of about ___MASK44___ . 8 million ( 2 . 6 million within the metropolitan area , nearly one third of Austria ' s population ), and its cultural , economic , and political centre . It is the 7th - largest city by population within city limits in the European Union . Until the beginning of the 20th century , it was the largest German - speaking city in the world , and before the splitting of the Austro - ___MASK10___ Empire in World War I , the city had 2 million inhabitants . Today , it has the second largest number of German speakers after Berlin . Vienna is host to many major international organizations , including the United Nations and OPEC . The city is located in the eastern part of Austria and is close to the borders of the Czech Republic , Slovakia , and Hungary . These regions work together in a European Centrope border region . Along with nearby Bratislava , Vienna forms a metropolitan region with 3 million inhabitants . In 2001 , the city centre was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site . The larger urban zone ( LUZ ), or Functional Urban ___MASK65___ ( FUA ), is a measure of the ___MASK68___ and expanse of ___MASK30___ areas in Europe . It consists of a city and its commuting zone . European ___MASK62___ E 66 is a ___MASK74___ of the inter - European ___MASK50___ system . This Class A intermediate west - east ___MASK62___ runs from Franzensfeste in Italy to Székesfehérvár in Hungary , connecting the Alps with the Pannonian Plain . Styria (, Slovene /) is a ___MASK84___ or " Bundesland ", located in the southeast of Austria . In area it is the second largest of the nine Austrian federated states , covering . It borders Slovenia and the Austrian states of Upper Austria , Lower Austria , Salzburg , Burgenland , and Carinthia . The ___MASK68___ ( as of ) was . The ___MASK66___ city is Graz which had 276 , 526 inhabitants at the beginning of 2015 . Franzensfeste is a " ___MASK1___ " in South Tyrol in northern Italy . It is named after the large Franzensfeste ___MASK93___ erected from 1833 to 1838 and is also known as an important railway hub . ___MASK31___ Balaton is a freshwater ___MASK31___ in the Transdanubian region of ___MASK94___ . It is the largest ___MASK31___ in Central Europe , and one of the region ' s foremost tourist destinations . The Zala ___MASK69___ provides the largest inflow of water to the ___MASK31___ , and the canalised Sió is the only outflow . ___MASK47___ , officially the Italian ___MASK85___ , is a unitary parliamentary ___MASK85___ in Europe . Located in the heart of the Mediterranean ___MASK13___ , ___MASK47___ shares open land borders with France , Switzerland , Austria , Slovenia , San Marino and Vatican City . ___MASK47___ covers an area of and has a largely temperate seasonal climate and Mediterranean climate ; due to its shape , it is often referred to in ___MASK47___ as " lo Stivale " ( the Boot ). With 61 million inhabitants , it is the fourth most populous EU member state . ___MASK94___ is a unitary parliamentary republic in Central Europe . It covers an area of , situated in the Carpathian Basin and bordered by Slovakia to the north , Romania to the east , Serbia to the south , Croatia to the southwest , Slovenia to the west , Austria to the northwest , and Ukraine to the northeast . With about 10 million inhabitants , ___MASK94___ is a medium - sized member state of the European Union . The official language is ___MASK10___ , which is the most widely spoken Uralic language in the world . ___MASK94___ ' s capital and largest metropolis is Budapest , a significant economic hub , classified as an Alpha - global city . Major urban areas include Debrecen , Szeged , Miskolc , Pécs and Gyr . Graz is the ___MASK66___ of Styria and second - largest city in Austria after Vienna . On ___MASK44___ January 2017 , it had a population of 320 , 587 ( of which 286 , 686 had ___MASK64___ residence status ). In 2014 , the population of the Graz Larger Urban Zone who had ___MASK64___ residence status stood at 605 , 143 . Veszprém is one of the oldest urban areas in ___MASK94___ , and a city with county rights . It lies approximately north of the Lake Balaton . It is the administrative center of the county ( comitatus or ' megye ') of the same name . Szolnok is the ___MASK49___ of Jász - Nagykun - Szolnok county in central ___MASK94___ . Its location on the banks of the Tisza ___MASK69___ , at the heart of the Great Hungarian Plain , has made it an important cultural and economic crossroads for centuries . The M8 motorway is a planned ___MASK10___ motorway , which will , upon completion , connect the western part of the country , near the Austrian border to Szolnok in the central part of the country . It will be partially concurrent with the European route E66 ( Graz -- Veszprém -- Székesfehérvár ) . The construction was reported to be started in 2007 ( a few tiny sections were built , including the Pentele Bridge over the Danube ) and it have been planned to be completed around 2015 but as of 2013 the plans are not even finalised and the even the permission phase for several smaller parts took more than 2 years . The Great ___MASK10___ Plain ( also known as " Alföld " or " Great Alföld ") is a plain occupying the southern and eastern part of Hungary , some parts of the Eastern Slovak Lowland (" Východoslovenská nížina "), southwestern Ukraine , the Transcarpathian Lowland (" Zakarpats ' ka nyzovyna "), western Romania ( various names ), northern Serbia ( various names ), and eastern Croatia ( various names ). It is the largest part of the Pannonian Plain . The Tisza or Tisa is one of the main rivers of Central Europe . Once , it was called " the most ___MASK10___ ___MASK69___ " because it flowed entirely within the Kingdom of Hungary . Today , it crosses several national borders . Central Transdanubia is a statistical ( NUTS 2 ) ___MASK56___ of ___MASK94___ . The ___MASK66___ is Székesfehérvár . It is part of Transdanubia ( NUTS ___MASK44___ ) ___MASK56___ . Central Transdanubia includes counties of Fejér , Komárom - Esztergom , and Veszprém . ___MASK55___ of Székesfehérvár ( see also other alternative names ), located in central ___MASK94___ , is one of the largest cities in the country . Székesfehérvár was the ___MASK66___ of ___MASK94___ in the Middle Ages . Now the city is regional ___MASK66___ of Central Transdanubia , the centre of Fejér county and Székesfehérvár District . It was one of the most important cities of ___MASK94___ . In the Székesfehérvár Basilica ( one of the largest basilicas in medieval - Europe ), where the Diets were held and the crown jewels kept , thirty - seven kings and thirty - nine queens consort were crowned and fifteen rulers buried . . In the ___MASK59___ of Europe , the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted from the 5th to the 15th century . It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and merged into the Renaissance and the ___MASK73___ of Discovery . The Middle Ages is the middle period of the three traditional divisions of Western ___MASK59___ : classical antiquity , the medieval period , and the modern period . The medieval period is itself subdivided into the Early , High , and Late Middle Ages . The Alps are the highest and most extensive ___MASK90___ ___MASK81___ that lies entirely in Europe , stretching approximately across ___MASK42___ Alpine countries : Austria , France , Germany , Italy , Liechtenstein , Monaco , Slovenia , and Switzerland . The mountains were formed over tens of millions of years as the African and Eurasian tectonic plates collided . Extreme shortening caused by the event resulted in marine sedimentary rocks rising by thrusting and folding into high mountain peaks such as Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn . Mont Blanc spans the French  Italian border , and at is the highest mountain in the Alps . The Alpine region area contains about a hundred peaks higher than 4000 metres ( just over 13 , 000 feet ).