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Vienna is a city where important buildings are more common than fast-food restaurants. With monuments like Schönbrunn, the Staatsoper, and the Spanish Riding School dotting the urban landscape, it's hard to pick a favorite building--unless, like me, you rank cathedrals high on your list of favorite places, in which case the Stephansdom is an attraction you won't want to miss.

The Stephansdom, or St. Stephen's Cathedral, is an island of Gothic magnificence in a sea of Baroque and 19th Century architecture. Most of the church dates back to the 14th, 15th, and 16th Centuries, with the Romanesque "Giant's Doorway" on the west façade dating back to the early 1200s. The Hochturm or south tower, at 450 feet or 137 meters, is roughly the height of a 45-story office building--yet it was built more than 600 years ago, half a millenium before the invention of the modern skyscraper.

Note: The Cathedral was severely damaged in a fire caused by Allied bombing in 1945, but it's impossible for the untrained eye to distinguish restoration work from the original.

View up to the two smaller towers and the south-tower.