Stephansdom

This is St. Stephen's Cathedral located right in the heart of Vienna. It is a magnificently huge cathedral. Definitely the largest I have ever been in. 

Our group has been learning a lot about this cathedral. There is so much history that goes along with it. Some parts of it date back to the early 12th century. It was constantly renovated so it has a pretty cool progression from the use of the Romanesque style to the Gothic.

The front of the building is one of the oldest parts. It is in the Romanesque style as shown by the squareness, blockiness and the tiny windows. The entire cathedral used to be just a church and was entirely built in the Romanesque style. Gradually, they started renovating it from the back to the front using Gothic techniques and style. Originally, this was a simple basilica, which means that originally had a main center aisle and two smaller aisles to each side. It also didn't have the single gigantic roof that it has now. Now the cathedral follows the form of a hall where the three aisles are the same height and width under a single roof. 

Also, the gigantic spire was added later. The idea behind this church was to bring a bishop to Vienna. In order for the people to see a bishop, they needed to travel far in order to do so. However, despite being built in the 12th century, they did not get a bishop until the reign of Frederick III in the mid-15th century. They thought that by constantly renovating and beautifying the building, they would get a bishop faster. Then 300 years later, they get a bishop, it becomes a cathedral and is quite the piece of architectural progression.

Now, we have to take a trip inside! It's a must!

This is what it looks like when you first enter. It is massive and everything is so intricately decorated. A key feature to the Gothic style is the constant battle between good and evil. There are many portrayals of evil trying to enter into something only to be pushed away by a holy figure. Take for instance this pulpit.

It is separated into three sections; the bottom, middle and top. Each is sculpted from solid pieces of limestone. Crazy! The detail is astonishing and I don't know how the artist was able to give such depth only carving from a single piece. This was created by Master Pilgrim. We know this because he actually left his signature in an interesting way.

He actually created a self-portrait and signed his initials. Pretty cool. He also did another piece which I'll talk about later. 

Now, regarding the struggle between good and evil. The stairs leading up to the pulpit show this very well. 

On the rail are a line of toads trying to climb their way to the top. But, before they get to the top, there is a dog that is warding them off. Pretty neat. That is also the reason for the gargoyles that surround many Gothic buildings.

Pretty scary guys. If I were evil, I wouldn't want to try and get past them. 

Here is another piece by Master Pilgrim. He built an organ loft which has a quite interesting story. Here is what it looks like.

While he was constructing this, his friends would often come to watch him and scoff at him. They told him that as soon as he took down the scaffolding, the loft would collapse and fall down. In response to that, Master Pilgrim said that he would bear it on his shoulders for all eternity. He then did another self-portrait of him holding up the structure with his shoulders. That'll show those punks.

Now, have a look at this. This is the ceiling of one of the main sections.

This shows the progression from the back of the building to the front. When they first started renovating, the Gothic style was just starting and that can be seen by the simple cross ribbing at the top of the picture. As time went on, the ribbing became much more complex and can be seen as you approach the front. The rule for dating the Gothic period is really easy. The simpler it is, the earlier it is. The more complex, the later.

Now just a little tragedy about this cathedral. During the Baroque period, the people thought that is was too dark inside because of the stained glass. So, what do they do? They take out whatever they could and replaced it with these nasty, boring tinted glass. Luckily, they didn't take all of it out. Back behind the main altar. The stained glass is beautiful and it is so sad that most of it isn't there anymore.

There are some remaining pieces that are displayed in the Museum Wien.

Aren't these just beautiful? Too bad they pulled them out. The inside would have been amazingly colorful when the sun hit these. I wish I could have seen that.

Here is a beautiful baptismal font.

It was very fashionable to have your children baptized in St. Stephan's cathedral. A lot of important and famous people had their children baptized here. Most notably of all is Mozart's children. Pretty cool, huh? The top of this font can be moved by a rope on a pulley system. The most elaborate lid I have ever seen in my life. Why don't more things come with lids like this?

This was an amazing building and there is just so much inside that it would take me forever to create a post about it all. These are just some of my favorite highlights. I hope you enjoyed and were able to make it to the end. I should give a reward to anyone that does. :)