A great deal of importance is attributed to the old Danubian monarchy where the continental pigeon fancy is concerned and there is no denial that the breeds that hail from Vienna in Austria, Budapest in Hungary and Prague in today's Czech Republic come from the same source. This can easily be deduced from the history shared by these three cities which led to the fact that the breeders of each of these cities bred their birds towards their own taste. Though Vienna is home to five different breeds, I want to limit my writing here to the most popular and most widely-bred breed of the entire family: The Viennese Long-Faced Tumbler.
Already due to its slender, elegant appearance and its proportions it is very difficult to pass by this breed at shows without giving it the proper attention it deserves. By its sheer looks a far more appropriate image for the breed would be a 'Thoroughbred horse', because of its liveliness and temperament. Add the fact that the breed provides a couple of striking markings, unfortunately a couple of those being really on the rare side. Due to all the aforementioned it is not unusual at all that the breed gains support among breeders, not only in Germany but also in the Netherlands, France, Switzerland, Great Britain and more European countries.
Pigeon historians agree on the fact that the ancestors of today's Viennese Long-faced Tumbler were brought to the Vienna region when the Ottoman army besieged the city for the first time in 1529 and then again in 1683. However, it is absolutely logical that these birds did look nothing like today's breed, they were much more the foundation stones on which the breed we know today was built to reach its present state
In 1887, Dr Binder, who worked as ship's physician with Lloyd's Orient Lines, brought some specimens of a light-storked breed from India to Vienna. The astonishing large resemblance between the imported birds and the birds already present in Vienna caused amazement among the breeders of the day and perhaps can be seen as an indication about the true origin of the Viennese long-faced Tumbler.
In the past, the pigeon hobby was a very popular one in Vienna whereas today there is but a handful of breeders left there. Fortunately the Viennese Long-faced Tumbler also has a lot of followers outside of its native Austria which not only guarantees its survival but who also work on its further improvement.
