April 2009
Easter in Vienna: Medieval Era
One of the centerpieces of the Vienna "altstadt" is the Stephansdom or St. Stephan's Cathedral. It predates the imperial era by several hundred years and somehow managed to survive the bombings in WWII when buildings nearby were razed.
\
I
Below the cathedral there is a catacomb that is the final resting place of many members of the imperial family as wells as a few prominent Viennese clergy. But the part we were interested in was a bit more unsettling. During the last outbreak of the Black Plague a huge hole was dug in the town square next to the cathedral. Families could bring their dead to be thrown into a mass grave since people were dying too quickly to bother with funerals. Eight thousand bodies were left there before it was all through. Of course we were told (in several languages) not to take pictures, but...you know....
My photo isn't that great since I had to do it covertly, but you sort of get the feeling of the place.
Shane and I looking far more serious than we felt. It was a perfect day, weather-wise, and we spent it walking, talking and laughing. But you wouldn't know it from this picture.
Oddly, if it weren't for the word Vienna in the upper right corner, there really isn't much in this picture to prove where we are.
Not too far away stood another cathedral. This one was less grand though it looked like it still held services which the Stephansdom clearly did not.
This cathedral was not really centrally located and so the stained glass windows seem to have escaped the allied bombing (notice I took no photos of the Stephansdom windows).
