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Around Stephansplatz





Stephansplatz was badly bombed in the war, and few of the other buildings are worthy of mention, though you might want to visit the Dom- and Diozesanmuseum (Tues-Sat 10am-5pm; oS70/?5.09) on the first floor of the Zwettlhof; access is via Stephansplatz 6 on the north side of Stephansplatz. This is basically the dumping ground for a mishmash of the cathedral's most valuable treasures, church plate and artwork. There are some arresting medieval sculptures in wood and some kitsch Baroque pieces, like the Madonna shrine, whose cloak opens up to reveal God (forming her body), surrounded by a host of worshippers' faces. The highlight, though, is the dimly lit treasury of monstrances and macabre reliquaries, including Saint Leopold's hipbone, a piece of the Virgin Mary's belt and the cranium of Saint Stephen.

A much more intriguing ecclesiastical treasure trove can be seen at the Schatzkammer des Deutschen Ordens (Treasury of the Order of Teutonic Knights; May-Oct Mon, Thurs & Sun 10am-noon, Wed 3-5pm, Fri & Sat 10am-noon & 3-5pm; Nov-April closed Fri am & Sun; oS50/?3.63), spread over five rooms on the second floor of the Deutschordenshaus; enter from Singerstrasse 7, one block south of Stephansplatz. The treasury's varied collection, assembled by seven centuries of Grand Masters, ranges from the mundane - seals, coins and crosses - to the bizarre: an adder's tongue used for testing food for poison, and a red coral salt-cellar tree hung with the fossils of sharks' teeth. The Order's military past is represented by a collection of exotic arms and armour, including a wiggly sixteenth-century Malaysian sword and scabbard, and a poisoned dagger with a handle carved out of rhino horn into the shape of the Buddha, with sapphire eyes and ruby eyebrows. Before you leave, be sure to pop inside the sala terrena on the ground floor, at the bottom of the staircase, to admire the Baroque trompe l'oeil decor.

To get to the Figarohaus (Tues-Sun 9am-6pm; oS25/?1.82), Vienna's chief Mozart memorial, immediately east of the cathedral, pass through the Durchhaus at Stephansplatz 5a, and enter at Domgasse 5. Here, on the first floor, Mozart, Constanze and their son, Karl Thomas, lived for three years, during which the composer enjoyed his greatest success. It was Mozart's swankiest accommodation in Vienna, where he even had his own billiards room. The composer Johann Nepomuk Hummel stayed here as Mozart's live-in pupil for two and a half years, and Josef Haydn - who opined that Mozart was "the greatest composer that I know in person or by name" - was a regular visitor. Sadly, however, there's not a lot to see inside, and

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only one of the rooms retains the original decor of marble and stucco (the Camesina family, who owned the property, were stucco artists). There are none of Mozart's personal effects, no period furniture, no atmosphere; just a few facsimiles of his scores and reproductions of the composer and his circle of friends. Nevertheless, it's worth a visit, if only for the building's lovely courtyard, the views along Blutgasse, and the chance to hear some of Mozart's music on the headphones provided.


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11/23/2008 2:12:20 PM

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