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Am Hof is the largest square in the Innere Stadt, an attractive, tranquil spot, marred only by the surface protrusions of its underground car park. The name - Hof means both "royal court" and "courtyard" - dates from medieval times, when this was the headquarters of the Babenbergs, who lorded it over Vienna until the Habsburgs took the reins in 1273. The centrepiece of the square is the rather forbidding, matt-black Mariensaule (Marian column), erected by the Emperor Ferdinand III as a thank-you to the Virgin for deliverance from the Protestant Swedish forces in the Thirty Years' War. At the base of the column, blackened cherubs in full armour wrestle with a dragon, lion, serpent and basilisk. Dominating the square is the Kirche am Hof , from whose balcony the Austrian Emperor Franz I proclaimed the end of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, on the orders of Napoleon. The church's vast Baroque facade, topped by a host of angels, belies the fact that this is, for the most part, a fourteenth-century structure. Inside, it's quite frankly a stylistic mess, with the old Gothic church struggling to get out from under some crude later additions. Pass under the archway by the Kirche am Hof, head down Schulhof, and you'll come to the Uhrenmuseum (Tues-Sun 9am-4.30pm; oS50/?3.63), a clock museum ranged over three floors at Schulhof 2. Founded in 1917, this is the world's oldest museum of its kind, but, sadly, it lacks the crucial information in either German or English to bring the collection alive. Nevertheless, you'll find every kind of time-measuring device from sophisticated seventeenth-century grandfather clocks to primitive wax candles containing tiny lead balls, which drop onto a metal dish as the candle melts. Other exhibits include the smallest pendulum clock in the world, which fits inside a thimble, and a wide selection of eighteenth-century Zwiebeluhren , literally "onion clocks", set within cases shaped like fruit, musical instruments and the like. For most people, the Puppen und Spielzeug Museum (Doll and Toy Museum; Tues-Sun 10am-6pm; oS60/?4.36), next door on the first floor of Schulhof 4, holds more appeal, further enhanced by the building's well-preserved Baroque interior. It's an old-fashioned kind of a place, with ranks of glass cabinets and no buttons to press for younger kids. The majority of the exhibits are dolls, with just a small selection of teddies, toys and trains. Also on show are a toy marionette stage, a Punch and Judy booth, a shadow screen and a dolls' toy shop, grocer's and house, complete with miniature Jugendstil coffee set. Off Am Hof, a short way down Drahtgasse, another toy museum, this time the Teddybaren Museum (Mon-Sat 10am-6pm, Sun 2-6pm; oS45/?3.27), holds a private collection of antique teddy bears from all over the world. As well as the cuddly variety, there are china bears, bears on carousels and one of the very earliest battery-operated bears from before World War I, whose eyes light up in a way that would give most kids nightmares.
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