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- Stephansdom overview<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Sightseeing in Vienna<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Nearby hotels<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Cathedral & more<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n![\"Full](\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/stephansdom2023.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n(View across from the Graben)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stephansdom<\/a> dominates the centre of Stephansplatz square, which tells you that this part of Vienna goes back a long long way in time. The cathedral went up in the 1200s and wasn’t even the first ecclesiastical building on that site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This gothic giant has witnessed considerable change in its surrounds, though. The buildings lining the west side of the square, for example, are positively juvenile. Though the other three sides supplement the historical ambience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stephansplatz merges seamlessly into Stock-im-Eisen-Platz at the entrances to K\u00e4rntner Stra\u00dfe and the Graben. But I’m just going to consider locations with an address on the square.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So…let’s take a closer look.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Cathedral<\/h3>\n\n\n
\n![\"Stephansplatz](\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/stephansplatzxmasmarket.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n(A Christmas market encircles much of the cathedral at the end of the year)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We begin, inevitably, with Stephansdom: a working cathedral, one of Vienna’s landmark sites, and a popular tourist attraction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The best way to capture the whole cathedral on camera is to stand at the end of the Graben. But be sure to walk around the entire exterior to snap those extra details, like the WWII resistance symbol<\/a> engraved into a wall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have several articles that help you explore Stephansdom in depth, but start here<\/a> for its overall history and tips on which parts to see.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The area in front of the building often hosts seasonal events, most notably a Christmas market<\/a> and the Stefflkirtag<\/a> (a kind of market fair).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stephansplatz 1 is actually the entrance to the cathedral’s south tower<\/a>, so let us continue our journey diametrically opposite at Number 2\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Zur Weltkugel<\/h3>\n\n\n
\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/stephansplatz2.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n(Go round to the right for one of our iconic caf\u00e9-Konditorei establishments: Aida<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This darker coloured building guards the southwest corner of the square.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite its look and wall frescoes, the Zur Weltkugel building at Stephansplatz 2 “only” went up after the 1896 demolition of the much larger baroque Lazanskyhaus.<\/p>\n\n\n
\n![\"Painting](\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/stephansplatz2a.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n(Oil painting of Stephansdom viewed from the Graben by Rudolph von Alt in 1832; public domain image courtesy of Belvedere’s Open Content Policy. Note how the Lazanskyhaus on the right encroaches on the view of the cathedral)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The new building took up less space, thus allowing a better view of the cathedral from the Graben.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A branch of Bank Austria with a self-service foyer occupies the ground floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now let’s progress anti-clockwise around the square. To the left of the Zur Weltkugel as you face it is…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Churhaus<\/h3>\n\n\n
\n![\"View](\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/stephansplatz3.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n(Look for the two entrance portals on the right of the picture opposite the cathedral)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stephansplatz 3 is the so-called Churhaus, completed in 1740 to a design by Daniel Christoph Dietrich and Johann Gottfried Pock with additional floors added early in the next century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The building has its own chapel inside and a notable historical library and book collection. It also contains facilities, offices and accommodation affiliated with the cathedral or archdiocese of Vienna.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stephansplatz 4<\/h3>\n\n\n
\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/stephansplatz4.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n(This part houses the popular Haas & Haas tearooms)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The angled fa\u00e7ade of Stephansplatz 4 forms the back of the Deutschordenshaus<\/a>: the Teutonic Order’s Viennese home that dates back to the 1200s, though the buildings you see are from several hundred years later (I think?).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The main entrance to that complex is around the corner on Singerstra\u00dfe. Inside you find, for example, a church and treasury. Both Mozart<\/a> and Brahms<\/a> used to live there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Stephansplatz, the address is best known for the Haas & Haas tea shop and tearooms<\/a>: a place to enjoy cucumber sandwiches and a pot of Darjeeling in a city of coffee<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n
\n![\"Old](\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/stephansplatzlottery.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n(In case you thought lotteries were a modern invention)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have a soft spot for the K.k. Lotto Collectur, too, where you can play the Austrian state lottery. Nothing special, you might think, but you could also do that here as far back as 1752.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to today’s lottery organisers, Mozart tried his luck there. As did Emperor Franz Joseph<\/a>, which is one way of financing territorial expansion into the Balkans, I suppose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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<\/div><\/div> - Sightseeing in Vienna<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n