St. Michael's Crypt and Roman Ruins Underground Tour Vienna

Michaelerplatz and the Roman excavations

Michaelerplatz is the round square between the Hofburg's Michaelertor gate, St. Michael's Church and the shopping street Kohlmarkt. When the square was redesigned at the end of the 1980s, archaeologists uncovered the remains that are now left open in its centre: foundations of houses from the civilian settlement that grew up outside the Roman legionary camp of Vindobona, fragments of the medieval city wall, a brick cellar from the seventeenth century and traces of the old court theatre that once stood here. The layers sit on top of each other and show two thousand years of building on a single spot.

The Roman ruins at Michaelerplatz are visible from the pavement, but the guided tour takes you down to the excavation itself and explains what each wall belonged to. Many visitors ask how to get to Michaelerplatz: it is a five-minute walk from Herrengasse metro station and a few minutes from Stephansplatz. Expect to spend around twenty minutes here before moving on to the church.

St. Michael's Church, the old court parish

St. Michael's Church (Michaelerkirche) is one of the oldest churches in Vienna, founded around 1220 and for centuries the parish church of the imperial court next door. Its plain Romanesque and Gothic structure survived while the city around it turned Baroque; the classical portal and the relief of the Archangel Michael above the door were added in the eighteenth century. Inside, the high altar is a dramatic Baroque composition of clouds and golden rays, and the organ, one of Vienna's largest Baroque instruments, is still played at concerts.

The church is open daily and admission to the nave is free, but the crypt below it can only be entered on a guided visit, which is why this underground tour of Vienna is the practical way to see it. The meeting point is in front of the main entrance on Michaelerplatz, so arriving ten minutes early gives you time to step inside the church itself before the walk begins.

The crypt of St. Michael's and its mummies

The crypt of St. Michael's Church stretches beneath the nave and side chapels and was used for burials from the sixteenth century until an imperial decree of 1784 ended interments inside city churches. Around four thousand people were laid to rest here, from court officials and nobles to musicians and tradesmen. The dry air of the vaults slowed decay so much that many bodies mummified naturally; some coffins are open and show the deceased in Baroque burial clothes, wigs and shoes, which makes the St. Michael's Crypt tour one of the most unusual sights in Vienna.

The guide walks you past stacked wooden coffins, painted caskets with family crests and the vault where the mummies are displayed with respect, explaining burial customs of the time and how the crypt was rediscovered. Photography is not permitted inside and the passages are low and uneven, so the visit is not suited to wheelchair users. Plan on roughly forty minutes underground; it is cool year-round, so bring a light layer even in summer.

Historic cellars beneath the old town

After the crypt, the route continues to further historic cellars under the first district. Vienna's old town sits on several levels of vaulted basements: medieval storage rooms, grain and provision cellars of the Baroque palaces, and passages that were extended during the sieges of the city and later used as air-raid shelters. Some houses on Kohlmarkt and Herrengasse have cellars two or three storeys deep, and the guide explains how merchants, monasteries and the court used this hidden space over the centuries.

Walking through these vaults gives a sense of how the Roman street level, the medieval city and modern Vienna are stacked on top of one another. This is the part of the tour that most visitors remember, because these cellars are not open to the public on their own. Comfortable shoes with grip are useful on the worn steps, and the total walking distance above and below ground is short, well under two kilometres.

The Hofburg quarter around the square

Michaelerplatz is the perfect base for the rest of your day. Directly across from the church is the Michaelertor, the grand curved gateway into the Hofburg, the winter residence of the Habsburg dynasty for more than six centuries and now home to the imperial apartments, the Spanish Riding School and the Austrian National Library. Kohlmarkt, lined with jewellers and the city's famous coffee houses, leads from the square to Graben and St. Stephen's Cathedral in less than ten minutes on foot.

The best time to visit Michaelerplatz is the morning departure, when the square and the Hofburg courtyards are still quiet; the early-afternoon start suits those who want a leisurely breakfast first. Because the tour ends in the heart of the old town, you can pair it with the Hofburg museums, a coffee house on Kohlmarkt or a stroll along the Ringstrasse without any transport at all.