Vienna: Stephansdom


Bob had a conference scheduled for the first full week of November and he planned for us to go a few days early for some R&R and then for me to stay and play while he stayed and worked! Good deal; can't complain!

We began our time in Vienna by visiting Stephansdom, or St. Stephen's Cathedral. This Gothic cathedral was first built in 1147 with the diamond-patterned tile roof being added in 1952. Amazingly it has survived many wars, but is scared from a fire that swept through Vienna in the ending days of World War II. The exterior still has soot, accumulated through the years on various areas, which is in the process of being removed, changing the color from back to a light gray.


The high altar at the front of the church depicts the martyrdom of St. Stephen and was built in the 1640's as part of the refurbishing of the cathedral. It is interesting to see the differing styles of the Gothic and Baroque period, although so typical of European cathedrals.








The stone carved pulpit depicts 4 men who are considered to be the Latin church fathers. They include Ambrose, Jerome, Gregory and Augustine. The handrail, which curves from the ground up to the pulpit, has decorations of toads and lizards, supposedly depicting the fight between good and evil, while a dog at the top of the rail is supposed to protect the preacher from "intruders." Can't imagine who or what would interrupt a sermon, although maybe turning a dog on people who forget to turn off their cell phones might be interesting!








In the North tower is the Pummerin (or "Boomer!") Bell, one of 23 bells in the church and one of the largest swinging bells in Europe, weighing in at 20,130 kg! It is still sounded today on special occasions, like announcing of the new year. It is said that Beethoven realized how totally deaf he was as he he surmised that the bells were tolling when seeing birds fly out, but realized he could not hear the bells at all.

We took the elevator to the top of this North tower (though the South tower which you can climb was closed due to construction, which we later found out was not the case), but as the weather was overcast, it did not make for great views of the surrounding area.

Bob remembered from a visit here many years ago, that there was an carving somewhere on the exterior that indicated Nazi resistance. We found out after leaving that it is an "O5" carved near the front doors (The fifth letter of the alphabet is E, and OE is an abbreviation for Österreich, which is the German spelling of Austria.) Always have to leave something for the next visit!

Mozart was the adjunct music director of the cathedral towards the end of his life. This was also where he was married and the location of his funeral. While we were in town his Requiem was being preformed here, but we had tickets that night to a concert. Bob was SO disappointed. ;-)



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