Three places you should not miss in Vienna

If you visit Vienna to explore church history, don’t limit yourself to the city’s famous cathedrals. Several lesser-known sites provide valuable insight into the world of the early church. The Papyrus Museum, the Ephesos Museum, and St. Augustine Church each offer a unique perspective on the history of Christianity and are well worth adding to your itinerary.

The Papyrus Museum preserves ancient biblical manuscripts, the Ephesos Museum displays artifacts from one of the New Testament’s most significant cities, and St. Augustine Church reflects centuries of Christian history. Together, these stops enrich any visit for those seeking to understand the roots of the Christian faith.

Ephesos Museum in Vienna

Having recently visited and written about the early churches in the ancient city of Ephesus, I made this my number-one destination on my visit to Vienna. I wanted to see what the Austrians had dragged out of the ancient site, with the permission of the Ottoman Sultan.

I found some unique carved elements in the museum that have no parallels in the Seljuk Museum or the ancient city site in Southwestern Türkiye.

The museum also displays the original statues from the Celsus Library, which immediately caught my attention. I was surprised, however, that the exhibits included no remains from the early church. Instead, they featured artifacts from the first- and second-century gymnasium complex near the harbor. Because relatively few visitors explore this area of ancient Ephesus today, seeing these original pieces up close made the experience especially memorable.

On the church history side, looking at the museum map at the beginning of the museum, I found two new areas of the ancient city with churches that I did not know about. In the coming months, I will add these insights to my series on Ephesus.

Papyrus Museum

After leaving the Ephesos Museum during my visit to Vienna, I looked for one more place to explore before returning to my hotel. I considered visiting a nearby Jewish site or another historic church. As I thought about my next stop, I happened to look up and saw a sign for the Papyrus Museum. It immediately caught my attention, so I walked into the nearby Austrian National Library and made my way down to the museum in the basement.

In the coming weeks, I’ll share a YouTube video featuring some of these remarkable artifacts. If you visit Vienna, make time for the Papyrus Museum. The admission price is modest, and the exhibits provide a fascinating look at ancient manuscripts that reveal how scribes preserved and transmitted the biblical text through the centuries.

As I walked through the museum, I realized that few people ever have the opportunity to see a collection like this. The exhibits did not disappoint. They featured biblical manuscripts and other areas, such as the oldest surviving text of the Life of Muhammad and a sixth-century Persian translation of portions of the Bible.

St. Augustine Church

The Habsburg imperial church provided a perspective of a church influenced by Gothic and Baroque influences. If one enjoys visiting the many older churches in the city, I would suggest visiting at least one of the imperial crypts that host elements of the former emperor’s remains. These crypts and catacombs reveal how the living viewed those who had passed. People wanted to be buried close by and preserve the bones, prompting fascination and questions about their motives centuries ago.

Check out my walking tour of Vienna’s oldest churches.