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Vienna · Mysteries & legends

Vienna of the basilisk: devils, plagues and an unsolved death

The lanes around St Stephen's Cathedral are the home turf of Viennese legend. On this route we tell each story at its exact address, and we always separate what the documents say from what popular imagination has added over the centuries.

  • 6 stops
  • 1.3 km
  • 1 h 30 min
  • Free
Start with GPS Read about this stop 1
The stone basilisk in its niche, above the painting of the youth with the mirror and the inscription

The route

Stop by stop

  1. 1 The house where Mozart diedHere, in the small hours of 5 December 1791, Mozart died with a half-finished Requiem and a rumour that has never quite gone away.
  2. 2 The Stock im EisenA medieval spruce trunk bristling with nails, kept behind glass on Vienna's busiest corner, with a padlock no one has ever been able to open.
  3. 3 The unfinished tower of St Stephen'sA tower left halfway, a master builder who fell from the scaffolding and a Christ who, they say, had toothache.
  4. 4 Blutgasse, the street of bloodA medieval lane with an unsettling name, a massacre of Templars that never happened and Vienna's most famous resident just round the corner.
  5. 5 The Basilisk HouseAccording to legend, a monster whose breath could kill appeared in a baker's well. Its stone figure still keeps watch over the street.
  6. 6 Griechenbeisl and dear AugustinVienna's oldest tavern keeps alive the memory of a piper who, legend says, slept off a drinking bout in a plague pit and climbed out singing.

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Start with GPS

Guide mode

Walk it with GPS.

Open guide mode on your phone: you’ll see your position and the distance to each stop, and we’ll let you know when you arrive. Then read or listen.

Start with GPS

  1. Turn on your location

  2. Walk to the spot

  3. Check the photo and listen

What you’ll discover

Vienna of the basilisk: devils, plagues and an unsolved death

Legends with an address

Every story is tied to a façade, a doorway or a corner you can see with your own eyes.

Record and tradition

From Mozart's death register to the 1685 record naming the piper Augustin: facts to keep legend and history apart.

The medieval maze

A short, flat walk through passages, courtyards and narrow streets behind the cathedral.

Keep exploring

More routes in Vienna

Back to Vienna
HistoryFrom Vindobona to the 1938 balcony: two thousand years of Vienna MixedVienna's must-sees: from St Stephen's to the Karlskirche