Pestsäule

Vienna


Graben is dominated by the twisting outline of this gold-topped baroque memorial, designed by Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach in 1693 at the behest of Emperor Leopold I to commemorate the 75,000 Viennese victims of the Black Death, the bubonic-plague epidemic that swept through Vienna in 1679.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Vienna attractions

1. Graben

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Today Vienna's most elegant shopping street, Graben began life as a ditch dug by the Romans to protect Vinodoba. In 1192 Leopold V filled in the ditch and…

2. Peterskirche

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One of the city's prettiest churches, the Peterskirche was built in 1733 according to plans of the celebrated baroque architect Johann Lukas von…

3. Adolf Loos' Public Toilets

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Built in 1905 by celebrated Czech-born, Vienna-based architect Adolf Loos (1870–1933) and still operating today, these opulent public toilets down a…

4. Erste Österrichische Sparkasse

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The neoclassical revivalist Erste Österreichische Sparkasse (1836), on the corner of Tuchlauben, has a gilded bee symbolising thrift and industriousness…

5. Equitable Palais

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Now containing ground-level shops and upper-level offices, this grand 1891-completed mansion designed by Andreas Streit was one of the few in Vienna never…

6. Jüdisches Museum

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Housed inside Palais Eskeles, Vienna’s Jüdisches Museum showcases the history of Jews in Vienna, from the first settlements at Judenplatz in the 13th…

7. Stephansdom

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Vienna’s Gothic masterpiece Stephansdom – or Steffl (Little Stephan), as it’s ironically nicknamed – is Vienna's pride and joy. A church has stood here…

8. Museum der Illusionen

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Vienna's mind-bending Museum of Illusions, opened in 2017, confounds your senses through its 40 interactive optical illusions and installations. They…