Vienna, Austria

I went on a European road trip with my son and his family in May of 2024. Most of the places we visited in Vienna were churches:

St. Stephen's Roman Catholic Cathedral

Votive Church

St. Charles Church

St. Michael's Church

Maria am Gestade Catholic Church

We also visited the Belvedere Palace and Vienna Opera House.

St. Stephen's Cathedral

The official website of the Cathedral is here:

St. Stephan

At St. Stephen's you can visit the cathedral, the catacombs, and the south & north towers. An all-inclusive ticket includes visits to the inside of the church, the catacombs, both towers, and the treasury. This all-inclusive ticket costs 25 euro. Visiting times are from 9 to 11:30 am and 1 to 4:30 pm on Monday through Saturday, and on Sundays from 1 to 4:30 pm. The Cathedral is located at Stephansplatz 3 1010 Vienna.

Construction on the church began in 1137 and the church was consecrated in 1147. There was a fire in 1258 and the church was reconsecrated in 1263. There was another fire in 1945 during WWII. The roof was rebuilt in 1950 and the church was opened again in 1952.

The roof of St. Stephen's is very unique and is made of approximately 230,000 glazed tiles. There are 13 bells in St. Stephen's, including the Pummerin bell in the north tower. Pummerin is the second-largest bell in Europe. Mozart married Constanze Weber in this cathedral in on August 4, 1782. And another famous composer, Beethoven realized his deafness when he saw birds flying out of the towers due to the bell tolling, but he could not hear the bells.

I am afraid of heights, but I still managed the visits to the towers just fine. It is very safe and enclosed with chain-link fences to keep people from falling. It is definitely worth visiting, to get an up-close look at the colorful roof and the beautiful view of Vienna.

Inside St. Stephen's Cathedral

The very unique roof of St. Stephen's - you can see it when visiting the towers

view from the towers

looking down from one of the towers

mozaics on the north side of the roof - these eagles carry the coat of arms of the City of Vienna and the Republic of Austria

Votive Church

The official website for the Votive Church is here:

Votive Church

The church was consecrated in 1879 after 23 years of construction. There is free entrance to the church and opening times are at 10 am Tuesday through Friday, 11 on Saturday, and 9 on Sunday. The address of the church is Rooseveltplatz, 1090 Vienna.

We didn't go inside the church on our visit. We just admired the beautiful outside.

Maria am Gestade Church

The interpretation of Maria am Gestade is "Mary at the Riverbank." It is associated with the Czech community in Vienna. It was built between 1394 and 1414. It is the second-oldest gothic church in Vienna. The church is located at Salvatorgasse 12 1010 Vienna. It is free to enter.

My grandson resting on one of the benches

The church is very narrow and was situated between tall buildings

Opera House

A performance was about to take place at the opera house, so we were not allowed to go past the ticket-takers, but the opera house looked amazing! I would love to go back and attend a performance there or take a tour.

A competition was held to design the opera house in 1860. Architects August Sicard von Sicardsburg and Eduard van der Null won the competition and the new opera house opened in 1869. Mozart's Don Viovanni was the first performance in the opera house.

The opera house's official website is here:

Vienna State Opera