St. Stephen's Cathedral (Stefansdom) description and photos - Austria: Vienna (Topic)

St. Stephen's Cathedral (Stefansdom) description and photos - Austria: Vienna. Detailed information about the attraction. Description, photographs and a map showing the nearest significant objects. The title in English is Stefansdom.

Photo and description

Cathedral of St. Stefan, located in the city center, a remarkable monument of the Austrian late Gothic. Its construction began in 1137, but the fires caused great damage to the Romanesque building and in 1359 construction of the current building began. During the Second World War, the cathedral was badly damaged, but thanks to the efforts of the entire Austrian people, it was safely restored.

Towers and portals of the cathedral

Giant gates with an elegant carved portal and two identical Pagan towers have survived from the Romanesque basilica. The southwestern portal is called the Singing Portal because only men and choristers entered the cathedral through it. The portal's sculptures depict St. Paul - a witness to the martyrdom of St. Stephen and Duke Rudolph IV - the founder of the cathedral, holding a model of the cathedral. Women passed through the Bishop's portal to the cathedral

In 1359, the South Tower was built, and in the middle of the 15th century, the North Tower began to be erected, but it remained unfinished. It contains the largest cathedral bell (the second by weight in Europe - 20183 kg) Pummerin. You can hear Pummerin's voice only 10 times a year. The bright black-white-yellow-green roof of the cathedral, with geometric patterns, is made up of more than 250 thousand majolica tiles.

The interior of the cathedral and the museum

The interior of the temple is decorated with sculptures and stained-glass windows. The pulpit in the main nave is decorated with portraits of the four Church Fathers. The sculptor depicted himself looking out of the `` window '' under the stairs of the pulpit. Urns with the remains of some representatives of the imperial Habsburg dynasty are buried in the crypt under the main altar.

The Cathedral Museum has a large collection of religious paintings and sculptures, valuable exhibits of decorative and applied art.

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Topic: St. Stephen's Cathedral (Stefansdom) description and photos - Austria: Vienna.