★★★★★ 5.0
Discover
St. Michael's Church
Four thousand bodies rest sealed beneath this white church, preserved in cool darkness since burials ended in 1784. Look at those three entrance arches above—carved details confirm construction began in 1220, making St. Michael's one of Vienna's oldest parish churches at eight centuries old. The facade appears Baroque and classical, rebuilt in 1791, yet step inside and the Gothic vaulting overhead reveals the true skeleton. Between 1340 and 1450, sweeping Gothic annexes rewrote this entire structure. Above the main altar and again crowning the west entrance outside, the dramatic "Fall of the Angels" sculptures chronicle the building itself. Positioned directly across the Hofburg Palace on Michaelerplatz, this is where Vienna's architectural biography unfolds in stone. Romanesque foundations from 1200, Gothic bones from 1450, Baroque details added in the 1780s, and classical refinement from 1791 all occupy these walls simultaneously, each century layered without erasing the last. Take a crypt tour in German to descend where four thousand souls witnessed the city transform above their heads through the medieval, Renaissance, and modern eras.
Did You Know?
- :St. Michael's Church is one of Vienna's oldest, with construction beginning in 1220, and it was already over 250 years old when a fresco of St. Michael was painted inside in 1350—making it a living timeline of the city's history.
- Hidden beneath the church is the Michaelergruft, a crypt discovered in 1945 by U.S. soldiers, which contains hundreds of naturally mummified bodies of wealthy Viennese, perfectly preserved by the rarefied air and sealed for over 150 years.
- The church's grand Baroque altar, added in the 18th century, depicts Archangel Michael triumphing over Lucifer, and the church's organ—Vienna's largest Baroque organ—was once played by a 17-year-old Joseph Haydn, who lived next door in a tiny attic room.