Stephansdom, Vienna

Stephansdom is Vienna’s Roman Catholic cathedral, a vast church whose story reaches back to the twelfth century. Its name honours Saint Stephen, regarded as Christianity’s earliest martyr, and the building also carries an All Saints dedication. The cathedral measures 109 metres in length and 72 metres across, combining Romanesque remains with later Gothic construction.

At the west façade, the Riesentor and the paired Heidentürme preserve substantial parts of the earlier Romanesque church. The south tower rises 136.4 metres and is known affectionately as the Steffl. Its foundation reaches less than 4 metres into the ground, an astonishingly shallow base for such height.

The tower contains 13 bells, while the Pummerin hangs in the north tower beneath a Renaissance cap. That north tower was intended to match its companion, but work stopped in 1511, leaving it at 68 metres. Stephansdom became a cathedral in 1469 and 1479, and an archbishop’s metropolitan church in 1723.

Its religious role is matched by its public presence: the cathedral is regarded as a landmark of Vienna. As you take in the stonework, you are seeing a building assembled across centuries, with the older western façade still incorporated into the great Gothic cathedral.