Virgilkapelle

About the museum

The Virgil Chapel was built around 1220/30 directly next to St. Stephen's Church as an underground substructure for a planned early Gothic sacred building. Six massive pillars and semicircular masonry niches form a space about eleven metres high, which was painted around 1246 with red joint painting and wheel crosses. Who commissioned the building and what it originally served for remains unclear to this day. The Mary Magdalene Chapel was later built above it, and its ground plan is marked in the paving of Stephansplatz.

From the early 14th century the building was put to various uses: the merchant family Chrannest furnished the lower space as a devotional chapel, including an altar to St. Virgil, from whom the present name derives; an inserted mezzanine served as an ossuary. After a fire, the Mary Magdalene Chapel was demolished in 1781 and the underground space was filled with rubble, which preserved the wall paintings for about two centuries.

During construction of the underground railway, the chapel was rediscovered in 1973 and integrated into the Stephansplatz station as a Wien Museum site. Because of damage from moisture and salt, it had to close in 2008; after the installation of air conditioning and a redesign of the access, it reopened in December 2015, complemented by a compact permanent exhibition on medieval Vienna. The site is currently closed temporarily for restoration reasons.

Highlights

• One of the best-preserved Gothic interiors in Vienna, about 800 years old
• Wheel crosses and red joint painting from the mid-13th century
• Well in front of the east niche whose function is unexplained
• Exhibition on medieval Vienna with multimedia stations
• Ground plan of the Mary Magdalene Chapel in the paving of Stephansplatz

Permanent exhibition

• Virgilkapelle und mittelalterliches Wien – Alongside the Gothic chapel space, a small display with objects and six media stations tells of rule, city organisation and everyday life in medieval Vienna.

Operated by

Museen der Stadt Wien – Wien Museum

Admission & discounts

Free admission: Free admission on the first Sunday of every month.

Free admission with the Wien Museum annual pass, ICOM card and Kulturpass (“Hunger auf Kunst und Kultur”). Payment on site in cash or by Bankomat card.

Accessibility

• Wheelchair accessible
• Elevator
• Accessible restroom
• Accessible parking: no information
• Service dogs welcome
• Tactile models & exhibits: no information
• Sign language tours: no information
• Easy-to-read materials: no information
• Audio description: no information

Step-free access via the Wiener Linien lifts: take the Stephansplatz/Haas-Haus lift to the ticket desk, then the underground lift to the U3 level (towards Simmering) with the accessible entrance – buy a ticket beforehand and inform the staff. Otherwise, a spiral staircase with 23 steps leads down from the ticket area. Accessible Wiener Linien toilet on the entrance level (fee payable). Disabled parking spaces in the vicinity, including Singerstraße and Spiegelgasse.

Kids & families

• Stroller-friendly

Prams may be taken into the exhibition if there is enough space (access via the lifts); there is no separate storage area.

Getting there & parking

Bicycle stands at Stephansplatz.

Amenities & dining

• Museum shop
• Coat check
• Wi-Fi: not available

Small selection of Vienna-related items at the ticket desk; coat hooks in the entrance area (no liability). Two benches in the exhibition area; eating and drinking are not allowed in the exhibition rooms.

Events & venue rental

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Plan your visit