Votive Church
Twin-spired neo-Gothic basilica built by public subscription after an emperor survived an assassin's knife.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to the Votive Church in Vienna opens on February eighteenth, 1853, when a young tailor's apprentice named Janos Libenyi lunged at Emperor Franz Joseph with a dagger on a quiet Vienna street. You'll hear how the city responded with a public fund for a memorial church, and how a twenty-six-year-old architect named Heinrich von Ferstel spent twenty-three years turning that promise into the twin-spired basilica standing before you. Look up at the two spires, still the second tallest in the city center.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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