Lost in transit

Favorite places: Virgilkapelle in Vienna

A remark in the comments to this post made me ask myself just what my favorite places are. One is the Virgilkapelle in the center of Vienna.

In line with Eeksy-Peeksy's comment that any list of hip places must include a description of the writer, I am a 44-year old American man who often wears dark suits, likes to be alone, preferably in quiet places, preferably in shabby cafes or, best of all, underground. I never say no to a nice ossuary, either. My hair started to go grey when I was seven years old.

Anyway. I discovered the Virgilkapelle, which would translate, doh, as Virgil Chapel, about ten years ago walking through the Stephansdom subway station in Vienna. It is an underground chapel that has been incorporated into that subway station's museum.

Subway stations sometimes have museums in Vienna.

I was walking along underground and noticed a big window, looking down upon something at a lower level. The chapel. I took some stairs down and went inside. It's open from 13.30 to 16.30 Tuesday to Sunday, closed 1 January, 1 May and on 25 December, according to the website linked above.

So I went inside. Stephansdom (named after St. Stephen's Cathedral, under which it runs) is a busy subway station. Crowds of people bustle here and there. Crowds by Viennese standards, of course. Smallish, well-mannered Viennese crowds wearing suits, not what you run into in various megalopoli around the world. But it can be noisy and busy. And so the peace inside the dimly-lit chapel was astounding. Built in 1250 as an underground chapel for another one above, the Magdelen chapel, which now exists only as an outline in the pavement outside St. Stephen's Cathedral, it fell into disuse in the 14th century and served as a crypt for a rich family. At some point people forgot about it, until it was rediscovered in 1973 during subway construction.

A builder in Vienna once told me that they often discover old Roman etc ruins when digging foundations and cellars. They are legally required to report such discoveries, and then construction is delayed for months as archeologists dig out everything; therefore builders often simply pump the ruins full of concrete and go on with their work, he told me. Wink, wink. Nudge, nudge.

Happily this did not happen to the Virgil Chapel (it includes an altar to St. Virgil). There is nothing to buy there, and no music, just a sacred feeling that I find very hip. It is a nice, quiet, dark place to be alone in the center of the city. And of course, a great place to meet friends for a drink.

Posted by Mig at November 14, 2003 10:29 AM