Am Hof

The name says it all: "Am Hof" means "at the court". Around 1155 Duke Henry II Jasomirgott, of the Babenberg dynasty, moved his residence to Vienna and built his palace here, on the ground of the old Roman camp. It was the first step in Vienna becoming a capital.

1A column for peace

The Marian Column, the Mariensäule, was raised by Ferdinand III in thanks for the end of the Thirty Years' War. The first one was stone; in 1667 it was replaced by the bronze version you see now. At its base, armed angels battle plague, war, hunger and heresy.

2The balcony of announcements

The big white façade belongs to the Church of the Nine Choirs of Angels, completed in 1662. Solemn news was announced from its terrace: on 7 December 1804 the title of Emperor of Austria was proclaimed there. Many guides add that the end of the Holy Roman Empire was announced from the same balcony in 1806, but historians consider that hard to prove.

3October 1848

On 6 October 1848, at the height of the revolution, a crowd dragged War Minister Theodor Baillet von Latour out of the War Ministry, which stood on this square. They killed him and hung his body from a lamp post. That day marked the violent turn of the Viennese revolution.

Vienna's fire brigade was founded on this square in 1686, and it is still here.

4What to look for

• The angels on the column, each fighting a different scourge.
• The church terrace above the entrance.
• The old arsenal, now a fire station, with its Baroque crown.