How many stops are on the History walking tour in Vienna?

The History route in Vienna includes 12 curated stops.

How long does the History tour in Vienna take?

The History walking tour in Vienna takes approximately 6 hours at a leisurely pace.

Is the History walking tour in Vienna free?

Yes, Promenario's History tour in Vienna is free to download and use, with full offline support.

🇦🇹 Vienna, Austria

History in Vienna

Historic districts, heritage sites, and origin stories. Explore 12 curated stops in Vienna, including St. Stephen's Cathedral, Belvedere, and Hofburg. Highlights include Belvedere, rated 4.6/5 by 18,460 visitors.

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Map

12 places in this collection

History places

12 places in this collection

Image by C.Stadler/Bwag, CC BY-SA 4.0

St. Stephen's Cathedral

St. Stephen's Cathedral (more commonly known by its German title: Stephansdom) is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vienna and the seat of the Archbishop of Vienna, Christoph Cardinal Schönborn, OP. The current Romanesque and Gothic form of the cathedral, seen today in the Stephansplatz, was largely initiated by Duke Rudolf IV (1339–1365) and stands on the ruins of two earlier churches, the first a parish church consecrated in 1147. The most important religious building in Vienna, St. Stephen's Cathedral has borne witness to many important events in Habsburg and Austrian history and has, with its multi-coloured tile roof, become one of the city's most recognizable symbols.

Image by Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0

Belvedere

The Belvedere is a historic building complex in Vienna, Austria, consisting of two Baroque palaces (the Upper and Lower Belvedere), the Orangery, and the Palace Stables. The buildings are set in a Baroque park landscape in the third district of the city, on the south-eastern edge of its centre. It houses the Belvedere museum. The grounds are set on a gentle gradient and include decorative tiered fountains and cascades, Baroque sculptures, and majestic wrought iron gates. The Baroque palace complex was built as a summer residence for Prince Eugene of Savoy. The Belvedere was built during a period of extensive construction in Vienna, which at the time was both the imperial capital and home to the ruling Habsburg dynasty. This period of prosperity followed on from the commander-in-chief Prince Eugene of Savoy's successful conclusion of a series of wars against the Ottoman Empire.

Image by Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0

Hofburg

Following the enlargement of Vienna after the demolition of the city walls in the 1860s, the Hofburg had its last great expansion. An Imperial Forum (Kaiserforum) was planned, in which a two-winged structure reaching beyond the Ring Road, with the twin museums (Kunsthistorisches Museum and Naturhistorisches Museum) as flanks and terminating at the old Imperial Mews (the Hofstallungen, not to be confused with the much older Stallburg) of Fischer von Erlach. In 1913, the south-west wing, the New Castle (Neue Burg), was completed. However, the Imperial Forum was never completed and remains a torso. The New Castle wing today houses a number of museums (the Ephesos Museum, the Collection of Arms and Armour, the Collection of Ancient Musical Instruments, and the Museum of Ethnology) as well as some reading rooms of the national library. The Hofburg Congress Centre is also located here.

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Image by © Hubertl / Wikimedia Commons

Kunsthistorisches Museum

The Kunsthistorisches Museum (lit. 'Museum of Art History', also often referred to as the 'Museum of Fine Arts') is an art museum in Vienna, Austria. Housed in its festive palatial building on Ringstraße, it is crowned with an octagonal dome. The term Kunsthistorisches Museum applies to both the institution and the main building. It is the largest art museum in the country and one of the most important museums worldwide.

Image by Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0

Vienna State Opera

The Vienna State Opera (German: Wiener Staatsoper) is an Austrian opera house and opera company based in Vienna. It was originally called the Vienna Court Opera (Wiener Hofoper). In 1920, with the replacement of the Habsburg Monarchy by the First Austrian Republic, it was renamed the Vienna State Opera. The members of the Vienna Philharmonic are recruited from its orchestra. Probably the most-beloved symbol of Viennese arts, and one of the first buildings to be rebuilt in the postwar era. The first performance was Don Giovanni, an opera by Austrian native Mozart, on 25 May 1869. The architecture of the opera was barely tolerated by the picky Viennese when it opened. Van der Nüll did not take these criticisms of his work lightly and committed suicide. A few weeks later, von Siccardsburg died of a heart attack. Doubly cursed, the opera building succumbed to bombs less than 100 years later, during World War II. After ten years of Allied control after the end of the war, many cultural institutions reopened to celebrate the birth of the new Austrian state. This time the opera opened with an adopted son of Vienna's work: Beethoven's Fidelio. The lush curtains and overall elegance contribute to the atmosphere. Inexpensive standing room tickets are made available for every performance and sold the day of the performance. The line forms about two hours prior to the performance. Guided tours in a number of languages are offered. The line at the front side door forms about 1/2 hour before the tour.

Image by C.Stadler/Bwag, CC BY-SA 4.0

Albertina

The Albertina is a museum in the Innere Stadt (First District) of Vienna. It houses one of the largest and most important print rooms in the world with approximately 65,000 drawings and approximately 1 million old master prints, as well as more modern graphic works, photographs and architectural drawings. Apart from the graphics collection, the museum has recently acquired on permanent loan two significant collections of Impressionist and early 20th-century art, some of which will be on permanent display. The museum also houses temporary exhibitions.

Image by © Hubertl / Wikimedia Commons

Natural History Museum

The Natural History Museum Vienna (German: Naturhistorisches Museum Wien) is a large natural history museum located in Vienna and one of the most important natural history museums worldwide. The NHM Vienna is one of the largest museums and non-university research institutions in Austria and an important center of excellence for all matters relating to natural sciences. The museum's 39 exhibition rooms cover 8,460 square meters and present more than 100,000 objects. It is home to 30 million objects available to more than 60 scientists and numerous guest researchers who carry out basic research in a wide range of topics related to human sciences, earth sciences, and life sciences.

Image by Thomas Wolf, www.foto-tw.de, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE

Karlskirche

The Rektoratskirche St. Karl Borromäus, commonly called the Karlskirche (English: St. Charles Church), is a baroque church located on the south side of Karlsplatz. Widely considered the most outstanding baroque church in Vienna, as well as one of the city's greatest buildings, the church is dedicated to Saint Charles Borromeo, one of the great counter-reformers of the sixteenth century.

Image by Dimitry Anikin, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Stephansplatz

The Stephansplatz is a square at the geographical centre of Vienna. It is named after its most prominent building, the Stephansdom, Vienna's cathedral and one of the tallest churches in the world. Before the 20th century, a row of houses separated Stephansplatz from Stock-im-Eisen-Platz, but since their destruction, the name Stephansplatz started to be used for the wider area covering both. To the west and south, respectively, run the exclusive shopping streets Graben (literally 'ditch') and Kärntner Straße ('Kärnten' is the German for Carinthia). Opposite the Stephansdom is the Haas-Haus, a piece of striking modern architecture by Hans Hollein. Although public opinion was originally skeptical about the combination of the mediaeval cathedral and the glass and steel building, it is now considered an example of how old and new architecture can mix harmoniously.

Image by Bede735c, CC BY-SA 3.0

Imperial Treasury

The Imperial Treasury at the Hofburg Palace contains a valuable collection of secular and ecclesiastical treasures covering over a thousand years of European history. The entrance to the treasury is at the Schweizerhof (Swiss Courtyard), the oldest part of the palace, which was rebuilt in the sixteenth century in the Renaissance style under Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I. The Imperial Treasury is affiliated with the Kunsthistorisches Museum, and houses in 21 rooms a collection of rare treasures that were compiled by the Imperial House of Habsburg over the course of centuries, including the Imperial Crown, Orb, and Sceptre of Austria, and the Imperial Regalia of the Emperors and Kings of the Holy Roman Empire, including the Imperial Crown of the Holy Roman Empire.

Image by Gugerell, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Rathauspark

The Emperor Franz Joseph I, in 1863, made known his desire to transform the area into a city park for the residents of Vienna. Toward that end, he removed the military parade ground from the site and tasked Dr. Rudolf Siebeck, the city's gardener, with designing the park. To provide contrast to the large, nearby buildings, including the Austrian Parliament Building and Burg Theater, the park had few established structures. The park's flora is among its most desirable characteristics. In addition to large groups of native trees and bushes, the park also has exotic trees, including a Japanese Umbrella Tree and an aged Ginkgo Biloba tree.

Image by Ank Kumar, CC BY-SA 4.0

Hofburg

The Hofburg is the former principal imperial palace of the Habsburg dynasty rulers and today serves as the official residence and workplace of the President of Austria. It is located in the center of Vienna and was built in the 13th century and expanded several times afterwards. It also served as the imperial winter residence, as Schönbrunn Palace was the summer residence. The palace faces the Heldenplatz (Heroes Square) ordered under the reign of Emperor Francis Joseph I, as part of what was planned to become the Kaiserforum but which was never completed.

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