Fiakers have been part of Vienna's city life for more than three centuries. Horse-drawn carriages appeared in the late seventeenth century and remained an essential means of urban transport for generations. Long before trams, buses and automobiles transformed the city, Vienna's streets were travelled by carriages and the people who drove them.

By the beginning of the twentieth century, fiakers gradually lost their practical role in public transportation. Yet the profession survived. Adapting to a changing city, fiaker drivers became custodians of a tradition that remains closely associated with Vienna's historic identity. Today, they continue to work mainly in the old city centre, where the rhythm of horse-drawn transport still echoes the atmosphere of an earlier era.

The profession represents more than the preservation of heritage. It requires skills passed down across generations, a close partnership between driver and horse, and an intimate knowledge of the city itself. In contemporary Vienna, fiaker drivers remain among the few professionals whose daily work forms a direct link between the city's past and present.