Stephansdome Vienna Austria Towers Gallery

Stephansdome Vienna Austria Towers Gallery

Stephansdom is the mother church of the Archdiocese of Vienna and the seat of the Archbishop of Vienna. As the most important religious building in Austria's capital, the cathedral has born witness to many important events in that nation's history. The church was dedicated to St. Stephen, who was also the patron of the bishop's cathedral in Passau, and so was oriented toward the sunrise on his feast day of 26 December, as the position stood in the year that construction began. Built of limestone, the cathedral is 107 meters (350 ft) long, 40 meters (131 ft) wide, and 136 meters (445 ft) tall at its highest point. Over the centuries, soot and other forms of air pollution accumulating on the church have given it a black color, but recent restoration projects have again returned the building to its original white.