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History
The
cathedral was first built as a parish church, in 1147, and rebuilt
and enlarged over the centuries, with major new work concluding in
1511, although repair and restoration have continued from the
beginning to the present day.
It was
previously thought that the church had been built in an open field
outside the city walls; but excavations for a long-awaited heating
system during 2000 revealed graves that were carbon-dated to the
fourth century, 8 feet (2.5 meters) below the surface. The 430
skeletons were then moved to the catacombs. Thousands of others
must have been buried in the ancient cemetery of this
neighbourhood, starting in Roman times; and this, instead of the
Ruprechtskirche,
may be the oldest church site in Vienna.
The first
recorded church here was founded in 1137, by Duke
Leopold IV in a contract with Reginmar, Bishop of
Passau. The church was dedicated to St. Stephen, the patron of
the bishop's cathedral in Passau. The first church building was
built in the Romanesque style and consecrated ten years later. The
present west wall and Roman towers date from 1237. After a great
fire in the city in 1258, a larger replacement structure, also
Romanesque and reusing the Roman towers, was consecrated, on 23
April 1263, an anniversary highlighted each year by a rare ringing
of the Pummerin bell for three
minutes in the evening.
In 1304,
Emperor Albert I
ordered construction of a Gothic three-naved choir, further east of
the church and wide enough to meet the tips of the old transepts. Work
continued under his son Duke Albert II;
this latest work was consecrated in 1340, on the 77th anniversary
of the previous consecration. The motif of the north nave
furnishings was St. Mary; the middle
nave was for St. Stephen and All the Saints; and the Apostles were
honoured in the south nave. This part of the present cathedral,
east of the present stubby transepts, is called the Albertine
Choir.
In 1359,
Albert II's son Duke Rudolf IV,
who is called "the founder", laid, in the vicinity of the present
south tower, the cornerstone for a Gothic extension of Albert's
choir westward, to encapsulate the existing second church. That old
church was then removed from inside the new one.
The Stephansdom was saved from intentional destruction at the hands
of retreating German forces during World War II, when Captain
Gerhard Klinkicht disregarded orders from the city commandant,
Sepp Dietrich, to
"fire a hundred shells and leave it in just debris and
ashes".
One of the
fires set by plunderers when Russian troops entered the city was
carried by the wind to the cathedral, severely damaging it on 12
April 1945. Fortunately, protective brick shells had been built
around the pulpit, Frederick III's tomb, and other treasures, so
that damage to the most valuable artworks was minimized.
Unfortunately, the beautifully carved choir stalls from 1487 were
burned. Rebuilding began immediately, with a limited reopening on
12 December 1948 and a full reopening on 23 April 1952
The
Romanesque and gothic cathedral is 107 meters (351 feet) long and
34 meters (111.5 feet) wide. The soot accumulated over centuries
has been removed in recent years, changing its colour from black to
white.
More
Information about the Cathedral her interesting exterior and interior you can find in Wikipedia
in english and german
language from where the history of the cathedral is leaned
out for this
cachelisting.
The
Cache…
….is well
hidden close to the cathedral. Even it is not necessary to enter the church for finding
the cache, I recommend to take a look for the wonderful and
impressive interior of
this gothic cathedral. Entry is possible
from 07:30am to 09:00pm daily and it's free!!
The attribute in the header means parking fee on weekdays
only.
The GPS response is not the very best at this place, so when your
GPSr means you arrived at the cache, go to the cathedral and
investigate the infoboard. The Cache is a Microcache and therefore there
is only a very small logbook.
And don't forget,
that stealth mode is absolutely indispensable for retrieving and
rehiding this cache, so please be careful to keep the cache
alive!!! THX!! (Remember, that 3 million people are visiting this
place every year, so you can imagine the amount of muggles
there) It's up on you and your fantasy to find a way for
retrieving and rehiding the cache and stay
unobserved...........
Happy caching
Tafari
Version 5.3
P.S.:There it is possible to log a
waymark too.
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