Let's travel together #324 - St. Stephen's Cathedral (Stephansdom Cathedral, Vienna)

As Christmas is around the corner (yes I know there are still two months left but time flies anyway), I remembered about how the beginning of winter looked for me two years ago when I, along with my friends, decided to have a spontaneous trip to Vienna after catching a last minute deal on very cheap flight tickets (around 40€ for round trip ticket).

Some months were already passing since we kept saying that we should have a trip together but after having various plans made for many destinations ruined when we least expected it, we thought it was a sign to not trip that year. However, it was early in the morning when scrolling down the facebook we spotted a very good deal on the trip to Vienna and that was all we needed before proceeding further.

We arrived in Vienna quite late at night, with very cold temperatures outside that made our bodies freeze in no time, so we spent the last part of the first day of our trip shopping and making sure we have all we need in the place we called 'home' for a couple of days.

The next few days though, we completely forgot about the bitterly cold that was often making us unable to take pictures of what we were seeing whether our hands were literally numb or because the little gadgets refused to work anymore. It was the beginning of December after all.

However, on the last day before returning home, we decided to take everything in a slower pace and make our way to Stephansplatz for a simple walk around the town, in search of souvenirs, but also to see one of the Christmas Markets that was resting right next to the cathedral.

We didn't have more plans for the day, rather thinking of observing things from the outside rather than going inside because most of the places that had a Christmas Market nearby were incredibly crowded by tourists. And there were no less than 12 such Christmas Markets. I've also wrote a post including these that you can check out here.

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In the absence of a proper plan, we decided to act like most of the tourists do, and stop here and there to take pictures, without being on the complete rush to reach from A to B and then to C and D points, completely forgetting about enjoying the whole experience.

And speaking of tourists, this was indeed one of the most crowded spots we walked in while in Vienna, making me and one of the girls from our group get lost from my sister and the other girl. But for the first time we completely forgot about any emotion and took advantage of the experience that was soon going to come to an end.

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After having our eyes completely delighted for all the lovely souvenirs we spotted at the stalls but which seemed way too expensive from what we've seen in the rest of the Christmas Markets, we decided to surround the cathedral with a walk, where we've also met quite a few carriages with their horses and coachmen barely moving anymore after waiting for God knows how much until someone interested asks for a ride.

The truth is, no matter how unique the experience is, after having to endure the cold from the outside on your own, I am not sure how much one could enjoy sitting on a cold bench and get the wind blow in his/her face.

I find this kind of ride more beautiful during the autumn when the cold is more bearable in autumn and the scenery less greyish.

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After we completed our short walk surrounding the cathedral, we ended up in front of one of its entrances that came with two separate rows.

At first we thought this is the same entrance but having two ticket offices open which made the crowd split in two. After a closer look though, we found out that a small part of the cathedral is free to visit (the ground floor) while for the full experience, a ticket is indeed needed.

It's not like we didn't want to visit the cathedral entirely, but there are organized guided tours every 30 minutes and there is a limited number of tourists that can go inside at the same time, being needed to wait in the queue after your time comes. And based on the queue from the outside, there was no chance for us to get inside sooner than 1-2 hours of waiting, which was incredibly long for the cold outside.

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As we didn't want to lose the whole 'fun', we decided to enter the cathedral though and enjoy, at least, the ground floor, that was free for everyone and without a limit of tourists that could get inside at the same time.

We were welcomed by a strange statue but also by lots of benches and chairs were people could sit to warm up for a bit, rest, or even pray, which was also what we did first, before starting to walk around and take pictures.

I simply love this experience where no matter what you religion is, people are connected by such locations all in the same place, speaking somehow the same language at the end of the day.

St. Stephen's Cathedral was initiated in 1339 by Rudolf IV was a scion of the House of Habsburg and ruled as Duke of Austria, the building being raised on the ruins of two earlier religious places that rested within.
The architecture followed mixes Romanesque and Gothic styles, one of the most memorable and eye-catching parts of the cathedral being represented by the colourful roof that has also become a symbol for Vienna.
Although the first layer of the base was laid at the beginning of the 12th century and the idea to have it completed was born in the 14th century, Stephansdom Cathedral ended up being finished only in 1578 after more adaptions to the styles were made, including major restorations, expansions and changes in structure.
But no matter how much the initial plan was adjusted, the church remained solemnly dedicated to Saint Stephen who also contributed on the name given to this, St. Stephen's Cathedral.

Even if things seemed like finally be put in order and have the church open to everyone, Stephansdom became a victim during the World War II when Soviet Army troops entered the city and had a single plan - to fire a hundred shells and reduce it to rubble - as the story says.

While the cathedral itself was not a main target in this process, the winds carried the fires on more places than those 100 shells mentioned, inevitably also reaching Stephansdom.

Happily, the protective brick shells built around the pulpit, Frederick III's tomb, and other treasures, minimized damage to the most valuable artworks. But the roof was the most affected one which also ended up collapsing and creating damages. Even if the restoration started right after the war ended, Stephansdom was reopened with a limited plan on 12 December 1948, becoming fully accessible by everyone only 4 years later.

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There is a total of 256 stairs from the bottom to the top, that take tourists close to the new roof of the cathedral which stirs the most curiosity, even if its beauty can't be entirely admired from the outside due to being a quite large construction and plenty of details are lost from afar.

So even if the cathedral is a lot more than just the roof and the remains after the fire, I still consider that it's worth a visit even if that would happen just for the sake of the roof, that indeed, caught my attention first.

The price for one ticket starts from €25.00 per person and might get cheaper or more expensive depending if you are coming with a group, alone or if you opt in for extra services.

The official address of Stephansdom is Stephansplatz 3, 1010 Wien, Austria and it's located on the pedestrian part of the Graben square known as "Stephansplatz" being open daily for visiting between 6 AM to 10 PM from Monday to Saturday, and between 7 AM to 10 PM on Sunday.

Other places I've seen during my stay in Vienna:

more coming soon...

^{Gabriela Travels is the FOUNDER of "Festival Mania" who started this community from the passion of attending various festivals and with the purpose of encouraging more people to explore festivals all around the world and share their experiences. At the same time, Gabriela is an independent Graphic Design Freelancer since 2019 completing over 600+ orders in this time and collaborating with various businesses and people from all over the globe. Additionally, Gabriela has her own corner on the internet since 2017 where she writes various articles for her blog, the most popular being the travel ones (300+ articles written on this field), but also abording other topics as well, like game reviews, movie and series reviews, photography posts, cooking recipes and more, boosting the total number of articles written to 700+ blog posts. Gabriela is also a gamer since she was 11 years old and gaming remains one of her biggest passions along with traveling, editing, cooking, and doing various sports activities.}

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