Am Hof

The Am Hof square is defined by the high, fluted column of the Mariensäule, topped with a golden statue of the Virgin Mary. It was erected in sixteen sixty-seven to thank the heavens for sparing the city during the Thirty Years War. Centuries earlier, the Babenberg dukes built their residence here, turning this space into the beating heart of medieval Vienna. In the spring of eighteen hundred and six, Emperor Francis the Second stood on a balcony here and officially dissolved the Holy Roman Empire.