Schönlaterngasse
| Schönlaterngasse | |
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| The Schönlaterngasse and the passage to the Heiligenkreuzerhof next to the Bernardikapelle | |
| Basic data | |
| place | Vienna |
| District | Inner city |
| Created | in the middle ages |
| Hist. Names | Street of the Lords of Heiligenkreuz, Gäßlein as one goes to the Heiligenkreuzerhof, Gasse below the Heiligenkreuzerhof and Gässel at the Heiligenkreuzerhof |
| Cross streets | Jesuit Street |
| use | |
| Road design | one way street |
The Schönlaterngasse is a famous, small, winding alley in the Vienna city center . Since the street leads past the Heiligenkreuzerhof (Schönlaterngasse No. 5), it was called the street of the Lords of Heiligenkreuz in the Middle Ages , later Gäßlein when you go to the Heiligenkreuzerhof , the street below the Heiligenkreuzerhof and Gässel at the Heiligenkreuzerhof . From the 17th century the name Zur Schöne Latern was in use, although the beginning of the alley was still called Heiligenkreuzergässl until 1776 . The name has been Schönlaterngasse since 1780 . The construction goes back to the High Middle Ages, most of the facades date from the Baroque period .
Originally, the alley only extended as far as today's Jesuit Church , as the rest of the street as far as Postgasse was part of a cross street that led to Wollzeile . This little alley opposite the Hohen Schul disappeared in 1624 when the Jesuits had the church and an enlarged university building built here.
The Schönlaterngasse is named after the former house sign "To the beautiful lantern" on No. 6, on which a lantern is attached. The original of the lantern is in the Wien Museum , today there is only one copy left in the alley itself, made by Otto Schmirler in 1971.
The most famous house on Schönlaterngasse is the Basiliskhaus (No. 7). A well-known Viennese legend tells that in 1212 a basilisk lived in the house well . A baker's boy noticed the monster and wanted to get rid of it in front of a crowd. The boy went down into the well with a mirror . He had been warned beforehand that a basilisk's gaze would turn a living being to stone. At the bottom the boy held the mirror in front of the basilisk's face, whereupon it turned to stone. Today a fresco on the house wall shows the boy's heroic deeds. The corresponding inscription was only made in 1932 based on the original text from 1577. (Renovated in 1965.)
House No. 9, which dates back to the 16th century and was redesigned by Peter Mollner in 1799 , is now the Alte Schmiede art association . Here you can still visit an old blacksmith's workshop with original tools.
House no. 11 is the old Jesuit courtyard, built in the early 18th century .
Currently, a total of four different valid Austrian postage stamps as well as a silver commemorative coin worth 10 euros (2009) have the Schönlaterngasse as their motif.
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Coordinates: 48 ° 12 ′ 34 " N , 16 ° 22 ′ 42" E