Virgilikapelle, Wien (Vienna), Austria, 2013

As mentioned earlier, construction crews discovered the Virgilikapelle while builting the Stephansplatz U-Bahn station in the 1970's. The Virgilikapelle was a medieval chapel that was constructed in about 1240, and ended up under another chapel called the St. Mary Magdalene Chapel, built in about 1307, which served a cemetary (not the old 4th Century one, but a later one that was closed in 1732). The accounts I've read seem to be a bit illogical in this way, as it has been presumed by some historians that the two were built simultaneously. The historical plaque (quoted below) does put the date of the chamber's construction at 1240. In 1781, the St. Mary Magdalene chapel burned down, and it was at that point that the history becomes less clear. Essentially, historians had presumed that the Virgilikapelle had been demolished with the other chapel, so its discovery, more-or-less preserved, under Stephensplatz came as quite a surprise. For that matter, few were sure (and presumably some may still be unsure) that it was even called the Virgilikapelle. Rather than destroying it after documenting it, as has often happened to archeological finds elsewhere, the Virgilkapelle was preserved as-is in close to original condition, although some of the paint faded. Soon after its excavation, it was damaged by that notorious Stephensplatz groundwater as well. However, it remains in remarkably good condition for an underground chamber built in the 13th Century, used for almost 500 years, and then buried for 190 years. In addition to preserving it, the U-Bahn Station was built to accomodate it, with windows to peer into it, and those 1970's signs again. There is also a multi-lingual, and quite detailed, historical plaque. It reads:

"Construction work on the U-Bahn (subway/underground) in 1972 led to the discovery of the foundation walls of the Chapel of St. Mary Magdalene, wich was demolished in 1781, and the Chapel of St. Vergilius that lay beneath it. This subterranean space, which, with a surface area of ca. 100sq.m. and a height of 8m, was relatively large by medieval standards, had an unusual groundplan with six apses. Along with its position next to St. Stephen's, this implies that it was part of an important princely building project.

The architecture and mural paintings were completed around 1240, thus dating from the reigns of the last Babenberg dukes: Leopold VI and Friedrich II were already trying, at that time, to secure the foundation of a bishopric in Vienna. As ordered by the pope, leading abbots had to visit the place where the relics of the episcopal patron, St. Coloman, were kept. It is therefore interesting that the space is orientated so that sunlight aligns with the central axis of the chapel on 13 October, the feast day of the saint.

The death of Friedrich II in 1246 meant the end of the ambitious plans. The vaulted space was used, from ca. 1300, as an ossuary, a place of burial, and private chapel. There were alters dedicated to Sts. Erasmus, Helena, and Vergilius, from the latter of whome the building takes its present-day name."