Vienna - Mary on the Strand Church

(Local Name: Maria am Gestade Kirche) First mentioned in documents in 1158, the Church of Maria am Gestade (Mary on the Strand) is popularly called the "Maria-Stiegen-Kirche" (Mary on the Steps). As its name suggests, it once stood on the banks of the old arm of the Danube. It is the Czech national church, and its entrancing pierced Gothic cupola is one of the characteristic sights of the northern Old City of Vienna.

Maria am Gestade, originally a wooden oratory dating from the ninth C., used to stand on the steep slope up from the Danube. The present building, with its Gothic stained glass, was erected mainly between 1394 and 1414. The tower was badly damaged during the Turkish sieges and was renewed in