Today I decided to go visit Saint Stephen’s Cathedral or Stephansdom in German. Stephansdom is at the heart of Vienna. It was consecrated in the year 1147 as Conrad III of Germany and Bishop Otto of Freising were about to depart on the Second Crusade. Stephansdom is one of the major tourist attractions in Vienna and was built in the Gothic style.
First before exploring the inside of the church Alex and I decided to ascend the South Tower or Sudturm. The south tower is 137.7 m high and was completed after 75 years of hard labor in 1433. Before ascending the stairs Alex and decided that we should try to race up them as fast as we could. Both Alex and I were successful in making it to the top of Stephansdom but after 343 stairs we were exhausted. The view from the top of the South Tower was amazing. The first thing you notice is that you can see across Vienna in all directions. No buildings close to Stephansdom were even close to being as high as the bell tower. Vienna I believe has a law saying that buildings can’t be higher then Stephansdom. Another unbelievable sight was the tile work that was present on the roof of Stephansdom. The roof was titled into different shapes and symbols which included an eagle.
Opposite of the South Tower is the North Tower. This tower was suppose to rival the South tower however money ran out for its construction and the citizens of Vienna felt that the Gothic style of the Cathedral was going out of fashion. So instead of finishing the towers they topped them off with some roofs and proceeded to install Austria’s largest bell in them. The bell is named Pummerin or boomer bell was installed in 1952 and weighs in around 21 tons.
The inside of the Cathedral is even more impressive then the outside. Walking beneath such an amazing engineering feat made chills roll through my spine. Coming from the US especially the west coast where the oldest building is about one hundred years old I really felt privileged to visit a sight that is older then I could comprehend. Just to realize that the tallest tower was made over 500 years ago is mind blowing. It makes me think about how far the human race will go in the next 500 years.
The Stone pulpit inside the church was amazing. The hard work and labor that went into constructing pulpit is also unbelievable. True master craftsmen worked on this site and you can tell they spared none of their talent. This pulpit was made in 1515 by Anton Pilgram. The pulpit contains the four founding fathers of the church with one addition. Anton Pilgram himself. I think it is funny that great craftsmen paint or carve themselves into these priceless art works. In a way it makes sense, they wanted to be recognized and commended for their work but I also think that it makes them seem like they are full of themselves.
Even though this is a major tourist attraction it feels weird to be taking pictures. I think to myself, would I go around taking pictures in my church? Probably not, because I see it all the time, it is common place. I believe this is the same thing for the Europeans. They are used to living in buildings which are old and have problems i.e. a leak or two. In the US it is a totally different culture. People want new houses and if a house has any problems or “might” have any problems people don’t want the house or they want it at a hugely discounted price. In the US people are not used to living in places that have a story or history behind them.
One of the creeper sides of Stephansdom is the catacombs or Katakomben. A couple of fellow classmates and I decided to be adventurous and take the catacomb tour. I have previously visited different catacombs throughout Europe with my family but every time it still manages to creep me out. Traditionally being buried beneath a church is a great honor and is normally reserved for nobility. Stephansdom is similiar but has its own twist. Underneath the cathedral there are the tombs of Prince Eugene of Savoy and Fredrick III. Close to the rulers are also the burial places for the Bishops, Provosts and Ducal. However Stephansdom also contains a mass burial for over 11,000 people who were buried there during the last outbreak of the bubonic plague in 1735. In order to fit everyone into the small spaces beneath the cathedral, they would separate and stack bones together. This would save space because you could make the piles more uniform instead of leaving gaps between bones. The Catacomb tour was surprisingly short but it was nice to climb out of the ground and breath some fresh air.
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