Saint Stephen's

German description only on demand!

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 Cache is a Nanocache and therefore to small for a logbook. So logging the cache is possible with an upload of a photo of the cache and your GPSr only. Logs without a uploaded photo will be deleted without any comment. Please be careful when making the photo, that you are not showing the hideout on your picture.

The initial content was:

1 Cachenote
1 Log 

and some fine trading items

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
Ras Tafari

Version 5.0

P.S.: In addition it is possible to log a waymark also.