About this walk
For two months, the survival of Vienna hung on a few hundred metres of wall, and this walk follows right along it.
The stops
Walk them in order; each story plays when you reach its pin.
- 1Stop 1
Where the walk begins and ends
For two months the survival of Vienna hung on a few hundred metres of wall. This is the tower that watched for the rescue.
- 2Stop 2
The column for a disaster that came first
Four years before the siege, Vienna already stood half empty because of the plague. The column on the Graben explains why the city was so vulnerable.
Read the story - 3Stop 3
Am Hof, where the city armed itself
The emperor left, the citizens stayed. This square held the arsenal where Vienna equipped itself.
Read the story - 4Stop 4
The Horseman on the Facade
A baker's apprentice heard digging beneath his cellar and saved the city. Trouble is, almost none of that story holds up.
Read the story - 5Stop 5
The man who refused
Starhemberg was offered the chance to surrender the city, and he turned it down. He lies buried beneath the church on this square.
Read the story - 6Stop 6
The last stretch of wall
The last piece of Vienna's fortifications, and the spot where it becomes clear why the Ottomans dug beneath the wall.
Read the story - 7Stop 7
The field that had to stay empty
Vienna's widest boulevard exists because for centuries nothing was allowed to stand here: this was the field of fire.
Read the story - 8Stop 8
The bastion that broke
The Löbelbastei stood here, where the wall gave way. The street name is all that's left of it.
Read the story - 9Stop 9
The Emperor Who Left
The emperor fled the city before the siege closed in. The square where he rode off would later become the address of power.
Read the story - 10Stop 10
The king nobody quite knew how to thank
The city had been saved by a Polish king, and the emperor wasn't sure how to go about thanking him.
Read the story - 11Stop 11
The Church That Came After the Fear
A church that exists because of a promise made during the plague years, built in the century when Vienna finally let go of its fear.
Read the story - 12Stop 12
The tower that watched for rescue
From this tower, Vienna kept its eyes fixed on the help that was coming. The country's largest bell was cast from captured cannon.
Read the story - 13Stop 13
The first coffee house
The coffee house owes its existence to the siege, just not to the hero the story usually credits.
Read the story - 14Stop 14
The clock everyone passes by
On the oldest square in Vienna, the mayor and the commander of 1683 file past one behind the other every day at noon.
Ready when you are
Walk The Siege of 1683 with ROODS.
14 stops through Vienna. Open ROODS in your browser, walk to the first pin and the story plays.
- Stories on a map, with narrated audio
- Walk at your own pace, stop where you like
- Runs in your browser. An app is optional.
