3-021-184 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Interior of St. Stephen's, Vienna, by S. Read, 1868. Engraving of a water-colour drawing. '...we could offer nothing more interesting, probably, on the interior of the stately domkirche, or cathedral, of Vienna than the remarks which Professor Fergusson has given in his last great work on the History of Architecture..."The three aisles are nearly equal in width and height; there is no clerestory, no triforium. There are two very tall windows in each bay. The pillars are covered with sculpture more remarkable for its richness than its appropriateness, and the tracery of the vaults is very defective. Yet with all these faults, and many more, no one with a trace of poetry in his composition can stand under the great cavernous western porch (near our Artist's viewpoint) and not feel that he has before him one of the most beautiful and impressive buildings in Europe...the great cathedral, dedicated to the protomartyr, was founded by Henry I. of Austria. It was begun by the first Duke of Austria before the middle of the twelfth century; in the thirteenth century it was twice destroyed by fire, and then rebuilt in its present form entirely of freestone. The interior contains thirty-eight marble altars, and numerous monuments of celebrated men'. From "Illustrated London News", 1868.