Heart of Vienna Landmarks

The multicolored roof tiles of St. Stephen's Cathedral form a massive, zigzagging pattern of yellow, green, and blue that dominates the Vienna skyline. This Gothic structure rose over the ruins of two earlier churches starting in the…

A tree trunk armored in thousands of hand-forged iron nails sits encased behind a glass grate at the corner of a grand palace. This is the Stock im Eisen, the namesake of the surrounding square. Medieval apprentices hammered these nails…

The dome of St. Peter's Church bulges like a green copper egg against the Viennese skyline, tucked tightly between the buildings of the Graben. Emperor Leopold the First promised to rebuild this site after the plague of sixteen…

The Column of Pest rises as a dense, golden cloud of sculpted stone in the middle of the Graben. Emperor Leopold the First commissioned this monument after the great plague outbreak of sixteen seventy-nine. He promised to build a mercy…

The black and gold facade of Demel distinguishes it from the surrounding storefronts on the Kohlmarkt. This establishment began in seventeen eighty-six as a confectioner’s shop for the imperial court. Apprentices once lived in the attic,…

The Looshaus features a stark, unadorned white facade that abruptly cuts off the ornate stone carving typical of the surrounding Michaelerplatz. Architect Adolf Loos designed this building in nineteen ten for the tailoring firm Goldman and…

Michaelerplatz holds a circular sunken pit right in its center, revealing layers of Roman ruins and medieval foundations beneath the modern cobblestones. This excavation exposes the ancient military camp of Vindobona, where soldiers…