The Dead are Everywhere.

Today was the day to do it all. Adri and I decided to go and explore the catacombs in different churches in the Old Town of Vienna. Our fist destination was St. Michael's Church, which we heard had very interesting catacombs. However, upon our arrival we found out that the catacombs are closed for renovation until September 3. (Which is unfortunate because we leave Austria on August 31st). We then returned to St.Stephens Cathedral and decided to explore that church again.
A couple days earlier we all had a tour around the same Cathedral with our tour guide Dr.O. Through her we learned about the history or the place. St.Stephens was not originally built in the Gothic style. In the same spot there used to be a Romanesque style church. However, when the Gothic became popular all over Europe, in 1304 the transformation of the church began. In 1469, Fredrick III brought a bishop to St.Stephens and thus made it a Cathedral. (A church can only be called a Cathedral when a bishop resides there). The Cathedral was built over a long period of time, thus one can see the old Gothic style and the new Gothic. (And the Romanesque). Old Gothic is a much simpler style, the arches are less decorated. New Gothic, on the other hand, has more elaborate decorations. The front facade of St.Stephens is the original Romanesque part of the old church.

In the picture, the Gothic is clearly visible in the two towers and the roof. Also, the long front window is done in the Gothic style. the Area around the front entrance is the Romanesque original part. There are small windows visible around the arched doorway. The Romanesque is the style where the Churches are smaller and with little windows. The Gothic is the style or architecture that gives the impression of airiness and uplift into the heavens.
Together with Adri we revisited the Cathedral and decided to climb the 353 steps up. the view out on to Vienna was stunning. There we could really see how the city really does not have a skyline. It is nothing like all the metropolitan cities. It almost feels like you go back in history.
Then, after going back down, we decided to visit the catacombs beneath the church. The area around St.Stephens has been surrounded with commentaries dating back to the Roman times. The tour guide who spoke beautiful German took us through the new and old catacombs. In the new catacombs bishops and other religious figures are buried. Next we saw the coffins of some of the Habsburgs and next to them were containers with their internal organs. (Not the hearts, because those are kept at St. Augustine's church. Lastly we saw mass graves of thousands of skeletons. One room contained the dead from the plague, for example. It was unbelievable to be able to see all these dead skeletons stacked neatly one on top of the other. This will be something I will not forget, even though we were not allowed to take photos.

German word: die Kiste
Meaning: box
Sentence: Der Mann kann den Kiste tragen.