Page 88 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Vienna

86  VIENNA AREA B Y AREA STEPHANSDOM QU AR TER  87

h Jewish District held here. Today it is possible von Erlach (see p149). Matthias z Maria am
to view the subterranean ruins Gerl enlarged the Chancery Gestade
Map 2 E5 & 6 D2. % Schwedenplatz. of a former Roman garrison between 1751 and 1754 to
Stadttempel: Tel 531040. Open Mon– Salvatorgasse 12. Map 2 D4 & 5 C2.
Thu for tours at 11:30am and 2pm beneath the square (see p23). accommodate the Ministry Tel 53395940. % Schwedenplatz,
(take identification). Discovered after World War II, of the Interior. The most Stephansplatz. @ 2A. Open 7am–
the ancient foundations show spectacular parts of the building
Vienna’s Jewish District is more groups of houses bisected by are the huge Baroque portals. 7pm daily.
famous today for its area of bars straight roads leading to the The elegantly curved window
and clubs called the Bermuda town gates. It seems probable frames on the first floor are One of the city’s oldest sights
Triangle than for its Jewish that they were 2nd­ and 3rd­ also particularly noteworthy. is this lofty, Gothic church with
community. Judengasse is now century officers’ houses. The The building’s interior, now its 56­m high (180­ft) steeple
a bustling lane lined with excavations are well laid out a courthouse, and its two and immense choir windows.
clothes shops and bars. There and exhibits of pottery, reliefs courtyards, are less impressive, There are recordings of the
are some solid Biedermeier and tiles supplement the ruins. partly due to reconstruction church from as early as 1158,
apartment blocks and on In the centre of the square undertaken after serious bomb but the present building dates
Ruprechtsplatz, in the former is the Vermählungsbrunnen damage in World War II. from the late 14th century. It
town hall, a kosher restaurant, (Nuptial Fountain), also known was restored in the 19th century.
the Arche Noah. Behind it is a as the Josefsbrunnen. Emperor Portal figure by Lorenzo Mattielli in the The church has had a chequered
tower, the Kornhäusel­turm. Leopold I had vowed to Bohemian Court Chancery history and Napoleon’s troops
Named after Josef Kornhäusel, The Anker Clock in Hoher Markt commemorate the safe return used it as an arsenal during their
an architect from the of his son Joseph from the it in 1741. The fountain depicts occupation of Vienna in 1809.
Biedermeier period (see pp32– In 1895, the first Jewish Siege of Landau and commis­ Perseus rescuing Andromeda. Inside, the nave piers are
3), it was apparently built as a Museum was founded here sioned Johann Bernhard Fischer A door leads from the enlivened with Gothic canopies
refuge from his wife. but it has since moved to von Erlach to design this courtyard to the Salvatorkapelle sheltering statues from various
The Neustädter­Hof, a Dorotheergasse (see p95). monument, which was built (St Saviour’s chapel), the only periods: medieval, Baroque and
Baroque palace built by Anton by von Erlach’s son Joseph surviving building of the modern. The choir contains
Ospel in 1734, can be found Emanuel between 1729 and original medieval town house High Gothic panels (1460)
on Sterngasse. A Turkish j Hoher Markt 1732. The fountain celebrates and the former Neuburg family depicting the Annunciation,
cannonball, fired in 1683, is Map 2 E5 & 6 D2. % Stephansplatz, the betrothal of Joseph and chapel. It has since been the Crucifixion and the
embedded in the palace Schwedenplatz. @ 1A, 2A, 3A. Mary and bears figures of the enlarged and renovated, but Coronation of the Virgin.
façade. The English­language Roman Museum: Tel 5355606. high priest and the couple, with retains its fine Gothic vaults. Behind the high altar the
bookshop Shakespeare & Co. Open 9am–6pm Tue–Sun & hols. gilt urns, statues of angels and The walls are lined with old windows contain medieval
(see p225) is nearby. Closed 1 Jan, 1 May, 25 Dec & fluted columns supporting an Ironwork at the Rathaus entrance marble tomb slabs, some stained glass, which is patched
Vienna’s oldest surviving ∑ wienmuseum.at elaborate canopy. from the 15th century. Its with surviving fragments.
synagogue, the Stadttempel, Linking two office buildings l Altes Rathaus pretty organ dates from Tucked away on the north
designed by Kornhäusel in the Hoher Markt is the oldest on the square is the bronze Wipplinger Strasse 8. Map 2 D5 & 6 D2. around 1740 and is sometimes side of the choir is a chapel with
1820s, is on Seitenstettengasse. square in Vienna. In medieval and copper Anker Clock. % Schwedenplatz. @ 1A, 3A. used for recitals. The chapel a painted stone altar from 1520.
It has been guarded by armed times, fish and cloth markets Commissioned by the Anker v 1. Salvatorkapelle: Tel 3178394. has an exquisite Renaissance The main parts of the interior are
police since an attack in 1983. as well as executions were Insurance Company, and Open 9am–5pm Mon–Wed, portal, facing Salvatorgasse. visible from the front entrance,
designed by Franz Matsch, it 9am–7pm Thu, or by appt. Austrian Dating from 1520 to 1530, but to walk around inside you
was completed in 1914. Every Resistance Archive: Tel 2289469 319. it is a rare example of need to make an appointment.
Vienna’s Jews – Past and Present hour a procession of cut­out Open 9am–5pm Mon–Thu. Italianate Renai­
A Jewish community has existed in Vienna since at least the 12th historical figures, ranging from ∑ doew.at ssance style.
century, with Judenplatz and, later, the Stadttempel at its core. the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Today the Old
During the early 15th century the Jews were persecuted and in and Duke Rudolf IV to Joseph The building here at Wipplinger Town Hall houses
1421 almost the entire Jewish population was burned to death, Haydn, glide from one side of Strasse was once owned by offices and shops,
forcibly baptized or expelled. Thereafter Jewish fortunes fluctuated, the clock to the other to the the German brothers Otto as well as the District
with periods of prosperity alternating with expulsions. The 1781 sound of organ music. Noon is and Haymo of Neuburg, who Museum, which
Edict of Tolerance lifted legal constraints that had applied to Jews the best time to see it, when all conspired to overthrow the examines the first
and by the late 19th century the city’s cultural and intellectual life the figures are on display. Habsburgs (see p24) in 1309. municipal district
was dominated by Jews. Anti­Semitism spread in the early 20th The property was confiscated of Vienna (roughly
century and burgeoning Nazism forced many Jews to leave. Of by Prince Friedrich the Fair covering the area
those who remained, 65,000 were murdered. In 1938, 170,000 Jews k Bohemian Court and donated to the city. Over within the Ring).
lived in the city; 50 years later there were 7,000. In the late 20th and Chancery Of much greater
early 21st century, the centuries the site was
immigration from Judenplatz 11. Map 2 D5 & 5 C2. expanded to form the complex interest is the
Eastern Europe has Tel 531110. % Stephansplatz. @ 1A, of buildings that until 1883 Museum of the
seen the Jewish 2A, 3A. Open 8am–3:30pm Mon–Fri. served as the city hall or Rathaus. Austrian Resistance
population slowly The entrance of the Altes Movement, devoted
increase. Vienna’s Habsburg rulers were Rathaus is festooned with to the memory of
also kings of Bohemia, which ornamental ironwork. Located those who risked
was governed from this mag­ in the main courtyard, is the their lives by
nificent palace (1709–14). Its Andromeda Fountain, the opposing the Nazis
The interior of the
Stadttempel architect was the finest of the last work by sculptor Georg during the Second
day: Johann Bernhard Fischer Raphael Donner who designed World War. Gothic canopies in the Maria am Gestade church

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