Hello everybody!!!

Today I want to write about some lovely churches that I think deserve more attention from everyone’s eyes because they hide a lot of the story of Vienna to teach, but are not as famous as Stephansdom, so not a lot of people knows them.

1. The first time I saw the Votivkirche I was just amazed and shocked from its beauty, with the amazing garden in the front and its beautiful Gothic style. But the inside of the church is even more surprising, in fact I’ve never seen such a beautiful painted roof and abside. Of course this is not that unknown, in fact there are tourists that visit it, but nothing compared to the Dom, which all of us agree that is amazing, but seriously, once you get inside the Votivkirche, you will have a different judgement on the Dom too. The Votivkirche is also an important part of history, in fact after the unsuccessful assassination attempt of Emperor Franz Joseph in 1853, the Emperor’s brother, Maximilian collected donations for the buolding of a new church on the site of the attack. The church was to be a votive offering, and so comes the name Votivkirche to thank God for saving the Emperor’s life.

2. I discovered not many days ago the beutiful Maria am Gestade. It is one of the oldest churches in Vienna and it is located in the Innere Stadt at Salvatorgasse 12, near the Donaukanal, in fact the church was traditionally used by sailors on the Danube river. Due to the stairs surrounding the church it got the popular name Maria Stiegen.

The present building was built between 1394 and 1414 in gothic style. It is very impressive to arrive from the Borse and see the church from the bottom of the stairs, it seems so fragile. Inside at first I ha d a weird feeling because the church is not completely in axe, due to project issues, and it is so thin and high!

Another beautiful thing to do is to look up when you are standing in the middle of the church, in fact the roof is just a masterpiece of a genious!

3. Ruprechtskirche is a Romanesque church near Swedenplatz, but it is so tiny that you really have to give her attention to descover this jem. It is traditionally considered to be the oldest church in the city and is dedicated to Saint Rupert of Salzburg, patron saint of the salt merchants of Vienna. After the destruction of the Roman settlement, the core part of the city grew in the area near the church. I went there at night for the first time and it conquered me the warmness of its colored windows and with its magic atmosphere!

4. Another church I like a lot is the Minoritenkirche stands in the Minoritenplatz right nect to the Hofburg, so it’s easy to bump in it without meaning it and admire its external Gothic architecture. But in the insiede there’s something ever more amazing, in fact it’s keept the life-sized copy of Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper on the church’s northern wall. It is a mosaic made by the artist Giacomo Raffaelli, commissioned by Napoleon I in 1809, but it was not finished before Napoleon’s abdication. Francis II of Austria bought it, wanting to install it in the Belvedere in Vienna. As it was too large for the building, it was set up on the north wall of the church, where it remains to this day.

There are so many old buldings that maybe are not very touristic but that hide a lot of the history of Vienna, and I love to discover them and let them tell me their stories. And then there are the touristc spots… that have nothing to hide but a lot to show! Tonight I was going back home and I chose to take five minutes more to walk and say hi to the Dom… and once again took my breath for a second!