ARCHITECTURE. 165 
Jasomirgott, laid the corner stone of St. Stephen’s church in the year 1144 
or 1147 (the chronicle being illegible) on the site of an old chapel. The 
design was made by Bishop Reginbert, of Passau, and the construction 
conducted by the architect Octavianus Wolzner, of Cracow. Of the origi- 
nal edifice nothing remains but the walls of the central nave and the 
western facade, with the gigantic portal in the Romanesque style. All the 
lower part of the western front shows the perfect Romanesque style, whilst 
the pyramids of the towers exhibit the beginnings of the pointed-arch style. 
In the years 1258 and 1275 the church suffered considerably by conflagra- 
tions, but was repaired as early as 1278, when the Emperor Rudolph L, of 
Tapsburg, celebrated in it his thanksgiving for his victory over Ottokar of 
Bohemia. The re-edification and enlargement of the church in the pure 
pointed-arch style was completed by Anthony Pilgram, in 1313, by the 
designs of Bishop Peter of Passau, or rather of Parson Bernhard Bram- 
beck, who subsequently became Bishop of Passau. The vaults of the nave 
and side aisles, as they now stand (pl. 37, jig. 25), date only from 1574; 
the previous ones had no artificial ribs. The high choir was finished in 
1339, by Duke Albert, with money raised by a tax of two cents on every 
subject. The designs for the spires on the cross-arms were made by the 
architect Hauser, of Kloster-Neuburg. A second Anthony Pilgram con- 
ducted the building in 1400, and completed the southern spire in 1433. 
The northern tower was in 1511 carried to the height of the church roof 
(1454 feet) by John Buxbaum. In 1514 the spire was struck by lightning, 
and inclined considerably to one side. It was righted in five years by the 
architect Leonhardt. Subsequently it settled again about three feet to the 
north-east. In the years 1839-1842 about 70 feet of its top were taken 
down, re-erected perpendicularly, and crowned with a gigantic flower, 
embossed of sheet iron. Its extreme height is 428 feet 8 inches. The 
length of the church is 321 feet. The main nave between the pillars, which 
are 8 feet thick, is 29 feet wide; the side aisles 25 feet. The height in the 
clear of the central vaults varies from 76 to 85 feet. Its area is 46,866 
square feet. It is to St. Peter’s in Rome as 1: 4.14. The spire is one of 
the most daring structures, its height being to its area as 9.5: 1, and its 
lower walls only 8 feet 10 inches thick. The foundations of the church are 
said to rest on huge subterranean vaults five stories deep, the three lowest 
of which are never opened, whilst the two uppermost ones serve as sepul- 
chral vaults, in which bodies do not decay but dry up. The corpses are 
deposited in chambers between pillars, which are walled up as soon as they 
are filled. Between these chambers galleries lead to the imperial vault in 
the centre, where since Ferdinand IJ. the intestines of the royal family are 
deposited in copper urns, their hearts being deposited in the chapel of 
Loretto, in St. Augustin’s church, and their bodies in the church of the 
Capuchins. 
5. Tae Caruepran or Macprsure. This edifice was commenced as 
early as 963 by Emperor Otho I, in the favorite city of his empress Edith, 
who was also buried in this church. This cathedral was a masterpiece of 
architecture in the pure Byzantine style. It was entirely destroyed by fire 
165 
