Vienna › Places and landmarks
Places and landmarks in Vienna
14 landmarks of Vienna, and the streets, squares and waterways around them, each with its story and where to find it.
Photo: C.Stadler/Bwag, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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Landmarks
St Stephen’s CathedralVienna’s Gothic cathedral, with its 136-metre south tower and a roof of glazed tiles in zigzags.
GrabenVienna’s grand shopping street on the line of the Roman ditch, with the Plague Column in the middle.
Plague ColumnThe Baroque column of clouds and angels put up after the plague of 1679.
HofburgThe Habsburgs’ winter palace for six centuries, now the seat of Austria’s president.
MichaelerplatzThe round square at the Hofburg’s gate, where Roman ruins and Adolf Loos’ plain house face the palace.
Spanish Riding SchoolThe white Lipizzaner stallions dance in a Baroque riding hall inside the Hofburg.
State OperaOpened in 1869, the first great building on the Ringstraße and one of the world’s great opera houses.
AlbertinaA Habsburg palace with one of the world’s largest collections of prints and drawings, Dürer’s Hare among them.
BurgtheaterOne of the most important German-language theatres, on the Ringstraße, opposite the town hall.
Kunsthistorisches MuseumThe Habsburgs’ art museum on Maria-Theresien-Platz, with the largest collection of Bruegel’s paintings in the world.
Also part of Vienna
RingstraßeThe grand boulevard round the old town, built where the city walls stood.
FiakerThe two-horse carriages that wait on Stephansplatz to drive you round the old town.
Coffee housesMarble tables, newspapers on wooden holders and a glass of water with every coffee.
SachertorteA rich chocolate cake with apricot jam, invented by Franz Sacher in 1832.
Streets, squares and waterways
The places that hold the centre of Vienna together. Point at one to find it on the map.
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1
Stephansplatz square
The square around St Stephen’s Cathedral, where the Graben, Kärntner Straße and Rotenturmstraße meet. Under it lies the Virgilkapelle, a medieval chapel that builders found in 1973 while digging the metro.
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2
Graben street
A wide pedestrian street on the line of the ditch of the Roman fort, which gave it its name. The Baroque Plague Column stands in the middle.
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3
Kärntner Straße street
The busy shopping street from St Stephen’s to the State Opera, named after Carinthia, Kärnten, the province the old road led to.
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4
Neuer Markt square
A square off Kärntner Straße with the Donner Fountain and the Capuchin Church, whose crypt holds the tombs of the Habsburgs.
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5
Albertinaplatz square
The square below the Albertina, behind the State Opera, with Alfred Hrdlicka’s memorial against war and fascism.
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6
Kohlmarkt street
The short, elegant street from the Graben to the Hofburg, named after the charcoal once sold there, with jewellers, fashion houses and the confectioner Demel.
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7
Michaelerplatz square
The round square in front of the Hofburg’s domed Michael Gate, with Roman remains in its middle and the plain Looshaus, which shocked the Viennese in 1911.
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8
Josefsplatz square
A courtyard-like square of the Hofburg with an equestrian statue of Joseph II, in front of the Baroque State Hall of the National Library.
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9
Heroes’ Square Heldenplatz square
The great open square of the Hofburg, with statues of Prince Eugene and Archduke Charles on horseback. From the balcony of the New Castle Hitler proclaimed the annexation of Austria here in 1938.
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10
The Ringstraße Ringstraße street
The boulevard around the old town that took the place of the city walls from 1857, lined with the Opera, the Parliament, the City Hall and the great museums.
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11
Herrengasse street
The street of the nobles’ town palaces, from the Michaelerplatz to the Freyung, with the old parliament of Lower Austria and the Café Central.
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12
Am Hof square
The largest square of the old town, where the Babenberg dukes kept their court. From the balcony of its church a herald proclaimed the end of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806.
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13
Judenplatz square
The centre of the medieval Jewish quarter, destroyed in 1421, with Rachel Whiteread’s Holocaust memorial, a library cast in concrete with its books turned inside out.
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14
Hoher Markt square
One of Vienna’s oldest squares, above the remains of the Roman fort, with the Ankeruhr, an Art Nouveau clock across which historical figures parade at noon.
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15
The Danube Canal Donaukanal waterway
The arm of the Danube along the north-east edge of the old town; the main river flows further out. In summer bars and deckchairs fill its banks.