Thursday 22 September 2016

St. Stephen's Cathedral
Looking Up


St. Stephen's Cathedral
Main Entrance and Façade

Photographed with my mobile phone camera
on the afternoon of 21 September 2016
Images and Text © by Merisi

St. Stephen's Cathedral (more commonly known by its German title: Stephansdom) is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vienna and the seat of the Archbishop of Vienna, Christoph Cardinal Schönborn, OP. The current Romanesque and Gothic form of the cathedral, seen today in the Stephansplatz, was largely initiated by Duke Rudolf IV (1339–1365) and stands on the ruins of two earlier churches, the first a parish church consecrated in 1147. The most important religious building in Vienna, St. Stephen's Cathedral has borne witness to many important events in Habsburg and Austrian history and has, with its multi-coloured tile roof, become one of the city's most recognizable symbols.

The church was dedicated to St. Stephen, also the patron of the bishop's cathedral in Passau, and so was oriented toward the sunrise on his feast day of 26 December, as the position stood in the year that construction began. Built of limestone, the cathedral is 107 metres (351 ft) long, 40 metres (130 ft) wide, and 136 metres (446 ft) tall at its highest point. Over the centuries, soot and other forms of air pollution accumulating on the church have given it a black colour, but recent restoration projects have again returned some portions of the building to its original white
Quoted from Wikipedia: St. Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna

11 comments:

  1. I don't think I'd ever get tired of that cathedral!

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    1. Me too!
      My favorite moment is when the bells are ringing.

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  2. St. Stephen's Cathedral looks quite dazzling all cleaned up, yet I also liked the way it looked with its historic patina.

    xo

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    1. It is quite an exciting experience to see the cathedral the way it looked when it was built. So light and serene, very different from the more somber dark look after centuries of dust and pollution.

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  3. I call her Stephansdom, allways, it's his real name, I like this wonderful cathedral, as pretty as Notre-Dame de Paris, i find.
    Thank you Merisi ! Nice afternoon in Wien !

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  4. I am back again after a self-imposed hiatus from blogging, a failed attempt! Missed all of you too much to continue!! European cathedrals are always so gorgeous.

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  5. Just beautiful...
    Love from Titti

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  6. I love your perspective in this photo, Merisi! How gorgeous!

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  7. Sometimes I don't visit your blog because it makes me want to visit Vienna again so much and I do not think I have enough vacation days left to do so any time soon.

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