Around Michaelerplatz

Michaelerhaus: Poor but Happy in the Attic

From 1750 to 1755, Haydn was valet as well as music pupil of the famous music director Nicola Porpora. Here, he also met the court poet Pietro Metastasio. Despite all hardships, he said: “I could work on my worm-eaten piano and did not envy any king for his happiness.”

Michaelerplatz: Where Today’s German National Anthem was Performed for the First Time

A memorial plaque on the left of the Michaelertor of the Imperial Palace points to the old Court Theater, which stood there until the year 1888 and in which Haydn’s Imperial Anthem was first performed on the occasion of the birthday of Emperor Franz II on February 12, 1797 and became a great success.

Its melody would remain Austria’s national anthem until 1918 (Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser) and again from 1929 to 1938 (Sei gesegnet ohne Ende); since 1841 it has also been the melody of the German national anthem – at first together with Hoffmann von Fallersleben’s text as Deutschlandlied (Deutschland, Deutschland über alles). Its third verse (Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit für das deutsche Vaterland) is still sung today as the national anthem of Germany.
In the early nineties, remains of a Roman settlement were found on this square; today, they can be visited freely.

St. Michael’s Church: A Master at the Organ …

Here, 17-year-old Joseph Haydn played the organ in 1749. He lived right next to the church in a small attic in the Michaeler House.

By the way, it was in this church that Mozart’s last work, the Requiem, was first performed soon after his death.
The catacombs, in which bodies do not decay due to special climatic conditions, are well worth a visit. Between 1631 and 1784, about 4,000 persons were buried here. Today, one can still see hundreds of caskets, some of them painted with flowers and skulls, and mummified corpses, some in Baroque frock coats and wigs. The most famous dead person in the vault is Pietro Metastasio, a friend of Haydn and the librettist of some Mozart operas.

Michaelerhaus

1., Am Kohlmarkt 11, Memorial Plaque

Michaelerkirche

1., Michaelerplatz
Tel. +43-1-533 80 00
www.michaelerkirche.at
Daily 1:00 – 10:00 pm
Guided tours through the crypt: Mon – Fri 11:00 am, 2:00 pm, 3:00 pm, 4:00 pm, Sat 3:00 pm, 4:00 pm