Stephenplatz

Back out in the sunlight and clearing our eyes and lungs of the heavy sights and fecund smells of over 800 years liturgy and burial, we are greeted with the world of commerce. Above, you see some of the many horse drawn carriages that wend they way through the central part of the city carrying tourist among the historic sights.

St. Stephen's - V

There are usually places in a church, nearly any church, where the simplicity of presentation overcome the overall exaggerated presentation to generate a truly tender moment. This madonna on a column next to a column is one of the better examples of this. The legend is that a servant girl accused of theft sought refuge with the statue of Mary (not sure what this might actually mean) and we subsequently found innocent. Hence, it is known as the Madonna of the Domestics.

St. Stephen's - IV

Here is the main altar area of the church. It is interesting to see that the floor is a nice marble but laid out in a very traditional, almost plain, pattern.

St. Stephen's - III

Above is one of the side aisles, more brightly lit from the expansive windows than the center aisle.

St. Stephen's - II

Another view of the pulpit we saw yesterday. If you look closely, you can just make out one of the small animals on the handrail near the top.

Back to St. Stephen's Cathedral

This is the day we choose to take a tour of St. Stephen's Cathedral. Now we do the deep dive to see more details of what this remarkable church has to offer. But, to give a little context, a few images on the way.

First Look at St. Stephen's Concluded

While built on a grand scale, this place is filled with small masterpieces of stone carving.

More of the General View of St. Stephen's Cathedral

Since there is on this visit a metal gate between me and the details of the place, I can only give you a flavor of the details.

St. Stephan's Cathedral, Vienna

After arriving in Vienna via a pleasant few hour train ride (nice modern train), we headed out to stroll about and see a a few things. We had carefully selected our hotel to be on the metro and tram lines, so getting about was easy. Today was mostly a walkabout. The first stop was St. Stephan's Cathedral.