Votivkirche Church

Votivkirche Church is one of the most important monuments of neo-Gothic style in the world. Votivkirche was built on the site of an assassination attempt on Emperor Franz Joseph I. On February 18, 1853, the emperor, along with one of his officers, Count O'Donnell, strolled through the city bastion. Suddenly, he was struck with a saber in the neck from the back. The high collar of the uniform saved Franz Joseph, and Count O'Donnell knocked the sword out of the attacker's hands. Thanking God for his salvation, Franz Joseph promised to build a temple on the site.

In April 1854, 75 architectural projects were presented to the court. The project of the neo-Gothic cathedral of Heinrich von Ferstel, who at that time was only 26 years old, won. The church was one of the first buildings built in the Ringstrasse area. Its walls are made of white sandstone, which is why it is often confused with the Viennese Cathedral of St. Stephen. Votivkirche has the typical form of a Gothic cathedral: a facade with two thin towers and three pointed portals, above which there is a gallery of statues, pointed windows, a bell tower and a spire of a transept, four chapels in the perimeter. The temple was badly damaged during World War II, but was restored.