Fascinating Facts about St. Stephan's Cathedral
1) St. Stephan's has an ornately patterned roof covered by 230,000 tiles!
2) The composer Beethoven discovered the totality of his deafness when he saw birds flying out of the bell tower, but he could not hear the bells that startled them.
1) St. Stephan's has an ornately patterned roof covered by 230,000 tiles!
2) The composer Beethoven discovered the totality of his deafness when he saw birds flying out of the bell tower, but he could not hear the bells that startled them.
3) The massive south tower is it's highest point and a dominant feature of the Vienna skyline We climbed it!)
4) The North tower was supposed to mirror the south tower, but it was too great an endeavor. There were so many accidents that the people believed the devil was up there!
Our favorite part of the cathedral was actually what was underneath! We went into the catacombs and had a fascinating glimpse of the past! The underground burial chamber has around 10,000 bodies. In one room there are fifty six urns containing the intestines of the Hapsburg royalty. I asked our tour guide if they ever open them up. He said that didn't but sometimes they leak and they have to reseal them. He told us that a few years ago, one urn started to leak and they had to shut the whole cathedral down for weeks because the smell was so unbearable!
Also in the catacombs there are huge rooms filled floor to ceiling with thousands of bones stacked on top of each other. There was also a huge pit where victims of the plague were victims of the plague were thrown. It was so intriguing! I felt like Indiana Jones!
4) The North tower was supposed to mirror the south tower, but it was too great an endeavor. There were so many accidents that the people believed the devil was up there!
Our favorite part of the cathedral was actually what was underneath! We went into the catacombs and had a fascinating glimpse of the past! The underground burial chamber has around 10,000 bodies. In one room there are fifty six urns containing the intestines of the Hapsburg royalty. I asked our tour guide if they ever open them up. He said that didn't but sometimes they leak and they have to reseal them. He told us that a few years ago, one urn started to leak and they had to shut the whole cathedral down for weeks because the smell was so unbearable!
Also in the catacombs there are huge rooms filled floor to ceiling with thousands of bones stacked on top of each other. There was also a huge pit where victims of the plague were victims of the plague were thrown. It was so intriguing! I felt like Indiana Jones!
We weren't allowed to take pictures but I found some great pictures here!
You can see more pictures of this beautiful cathedral and can read more fascinating facts here.
1 comment:
Very interesting! I love facts when traveling. Kinda like Nancy Drew and Ned Nickerson when they'd stop in the middle of a mystery and share some facts about something. :)
Post a Comment