Was every building bombed here?

Bombs from WW2 left their mark on a large amount of the significant buildings in Vienna. Yet, most of them are still standing and we are lucky we can visit them today.

Stephansdom

In the midst of the fighting in April 1945, the Allies were dropping bombs, the Nazis firing shells, the Viennese decided they were over it. To get this message across to the Allies two dudes climbed the south tower, out the window onto the outside of the building, to get the highest they would and wave the white flag of surrender. The Allies received this message, however, so did the Nazis. The Nazi commander filled with hate and rage ordered that the Church be fired upon until it is reduced to rubble. Luckily a sub-commander received the instruction and decided to "accidentally" miss the tower hitting the building on the right.

So love this guy for saving the church, however, he hit the building to the right starting a fire, which spread to the protective scaffolding around the tower. This fire took out the roof of the Church, as well as the main support for the massive bell at the top of the tower. This Bell was constructed out of melted-down Turkish cannons from the victory in 1683. This huge bell came crashing down the entire tower, shattering upon impact. In 1960 the Viennese created a new bell, constructed out of more Turkish cannons from 1683 that were in museums, that now hangs in the north tower.

The day we climbed up the north tower, the shorter of the two, I was admiring the tiling work on the roof of the church as it was nothing I had ever seen before. In a moment of complete stupidity and obliviousness, I walked over to Brody, who is very good at knowing things and I asked, "So when do you think this roof was built?" At this exact moment, he was taking a picture what you see there, yes, the one with the massive Eagles that say 1950. He looked at me, looked at the painting, looked back to me, and said, "I don't know maybe 1950?" Somehow I missed the giant eagle made out of tiles right in front of my face. That was a silly moment. So moral of the story I think it is safe to say the roof was rebuilt around 1950.

Opera House

In true Viennese fashion the first building completed in the Ringstrasse was the Opera House in 1869. There was, however, a miscommunication about how high the street level was going to be. Construction was nearly completed, fitted with a tall grand staircase leading up into the Opera house. It was only then they realized the street level was too low and the staircase had to be filled in. Franz Joseph hated this building and told the architects that it didn't look like an Opera house, it looked like a train station. One architect ended up killing himself within weeks, and the other died a few months later allegedly of a broken heart. From then on Franz Josef often kept his true opinions to himself, and went on saying everything looked beautiful.

Now to the bombing part. The Opera House was never intended to be bombed, it was simply mistaken for..., you guessed it. A train station. American bombers in 1945 were given the command to wipe out train stations in Vienna to halt transportation and mistook the Operahouse for a train station. I suppose Franz Josef was right all along.

Thankfully, the bombs only hit part of the theater, completely destroying the stage but leaving the grand lobby intact. This has allowed Vienna to have something one of a kind. Most historic opera houses are not allowed to be renovated to keep up with the technological innovations that aid in modern shows, as they are protected by a historic society. This is not the case for Vienna. Since the stage was destroyed and is no longer protected by the historic society, they can build and rebuild the stage to match the needs of different shows, while simultaneously having the historic grand lobby.

Page updated

Report abuse