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 built a defensive city wall that ended at Freyung, financed by the ransom paid by arch-rival Richard the Lionheart – at that time, kept under lock and key in a castle near Dürnstein, on the Danube.
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
0.41 MILES
Vienna's foremost opera and ballet venue, the neo-Renaissance Staatsoper, is one of the finest concert halls in the world. Even if you can't get tickets…
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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…
0.62 MILES
The MuseumsQuartier is a remarkable ensemble of museums, cafes, restaurants and bars inside former imperial stables designed by Fischer von Erlach. This…
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The Hofburg's Kaiserliche Schatzkammer contains secular and ecclesiastical treasures (including devotional images and altars, particularly from the…
0.96 MILES
A masterpiece of total art, Schloss Belvedere is one of the world’s finest baroque palaces. Designed by Johann Lukas von Hildebrandt (1668–1745), it was…
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Nothing symbolises Austria's resplendent cultural heritage more than its Hofburg, home base of the Habsburgs from 1273 to 1918. The oldest section is the…
3.12 MILES
The Habsburgs' opulent summer palace is now a Unesco World Heritage site. Of its 1441 rooms, 40 are open to the public; the Imperial Tour takes you into…
Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna
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A highlight of any trip to Vienna is a visit to the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna, brimming with works by Europe’s finest painters, sculptors and…
Nearby Vienna attractions
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
0.12 MILES
Vienna's mind-bending Museum of Illusions, opened in 2017, confounds your senses through its 40 interactive optical illusions and installations. They…
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The Michaelerkirche dates from the 13th century. Its highlight is the burial crypt which you can see on 40-minute bilingual German/English tours at 11am…