About Churches & Religious Sites in Vienna
Vienna's churches tell the city's complete architectural history – from Romanesque to modern – and almost all of them are free to enter.
St. Stephen's Cathedral has stood on its site since the 12th century and is the symbol of the city; its tiled roof with the double-headed eagle was reconstructed after the fire of 1945. Much older and far quieter is the Ruprechtskirche (St. Rupert's Church), the oldest church in Vienna, covered in ivy and usually empty.
Baroque is represented by St. Charles Church (Karlskirche) with its dome, and by St. Peter's Church (Peterskirche), which looks unremarkable from the outside, squeezed between the houses, and is overwhelming inside. The Jesuit Church (University Church) has a painted trompe-l'œil dome, with a marked spot on the floor from which to view it.
The leap into modernism comes with Otto Wagner's Church am Steinhof – largely rejected when it opened in 1907, today one of the most important religious buildings of modernism.
Almost all of these churches are free to enter, at least the main nave. Admission is charged only for separate areas – towers, catacombs, dome ascents.
A practical tip: during services, sightseeing is not possible or only to a limited extent, which applies to practically every church on Sunday mornings in particular. Plan your visits for weekdays or afternoons. Several churches in the city center hold short organ concerts at midday that cost nothing and require no reservation.