Leaving the subway, the first thing you see is the impressive Catedral de San Esteban (Stephansdom ). The current building, a symbol of Vienna, is located where there was an old church dating 1147. Often the great cathedrals of Europe are the result of ongoing renovations and expansions that could take centuries. Its original Romanesque style was replaced by the Gothic in the fourteenth century, and the impressive South Tower was completed in 1433.
The second largest church in Vienna is the Church of San Carlos Borromeo (Karlskirche ). Emperor Charles VI ordered the construction a year after the bubonic plague that struck in Vienna in 1713, devoting himself to his patron saint Charles Borromeo. Baroque style, it features a façade of a Greek temple. At the sides rise two columns with bas-reliefs show episodes from the life of the saint said, with a design clearly inspired by the model of Trajan's Column.
As rabid fan of Gustav Klimt, I could not stop going to the famous Ausstellungsgebäude der Wiener Secession, built between 1897 and 1898. Secession was a movement of modern artists, gathered to explore new styles beyond the limits of what traditional schools teach. We talked about a time when Vienna was the epicenter of the avant-garde art, music and psychoanalysis. At that time, the building was strongly criticized for its relatively dissonant lines, when compared with the surrounding architecture. Inside the museum, you can see the Beethoven Frieze ( Beethovenfries, appreciable http://www.secession.at/beethovenfries/ ), the former first president of the Secession, Klimt himself. Consequently, today make exhibitions of modern art, constantly renewing.
Under the golden dome reads: "Each time, his art. In every art, its freedom." March 2007.