St Stephen's Cathedral (German: Stefansdom), the mother church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vienna, was dedicated in 1147 to St Stephen, believed to be the first martyr of Christianity. It stands on the ruins of two earlier churches, which are thought to have been built on an ancient cemetery dating back to early Roman times.

The building began as a Romanesque church. It was destroyed by a major fire in 1258 and was replaced by a Gothic church started in the early 14th century. The master stone carver Anton Pilgrim created the beautiful pulpit in the early 16th century. The pulpit is in the middle of the nave and shows the images of four church fathers, namely Ambrose, Jerome, Gregory and Augustine. A Wiener Neustadt altarpiece in the left chapel of the choir was finished in 1447 and is gilded. It shows the Virgin Mary between St Barbara and St Catherine.

St Stephens cathedral is 106 meters long and has two tall towers, one of which is 135 meters high and contains the Pummerin Bell. This bell is one of the largest in the world and is cast from a cannon that was captured from the Turks in 1683 during a siege of the city that caused much damage to the church. By the end of the Second World War the roof was heavily damaged. The church was reopened in 1948, and the roof was completely repaired in 1950 with multi-colored ceramic tiles with a diamond pattern.

LINK to images of St Stephens Basilica (from wikipedia)

Roof tiles mosaic