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  The Roman Towers of St. Stephen  

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Uploaded: 01/02/07 2:45 AM GMT
The Roman Towers of St. Stephen
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The Stephansdom (Cathedral of Saint Stephen), in Vienna, Austria, is the seat of a Roman Catholic Archbishop. The cathedral was first built as a parish church, in 1147, and rebuilt and enlarged over the centuries, with major new work concluding in 1511, although repair and restoration have continued from the beginning to the present day. (In fact this was the only side without construction work going on). The Stephansdom was saved from intentional destruction at the hands of retreating German forces during World War II, when Captain Gerhard Klinkicht disregarded orders from the city commandant, Sepp Dietrich, to "fire a hundred shells and leave it in just debris and ashes". One of the fires set by plunderers when Russian troops entered the city was carried by the wind to the cathedral, severely damaging it on 12 April 1945. On the left and on the right from the main entrance, seen here, are the two Roman towers which are about 65 meters (215 feet) tall. They are called "Roman" because they were built from rubble of structures built by the Romans during their occupation of the city site. Square at their bases, and octagonal when the rise above the roof, they housed bells, and although the south Roman tower lost its bells during World War II, the north one is still a working bell tower. Along with the Giant Door, they are the oldest parts of the church.

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