The cathedral was founded in the XII century on the basis of a basilica built on the site of the Romanesque sanctuary, and was then the center of the city. The fire of 1258, which destroyed most of Vienna, destroyed the cathedral, and, by the beginning of the 14th century, a Gothic building had grown on the ruins of the basilica. The cathedral was badly damaged during the siege of the Turks in 1683, then there was a relatively peaceful time until the Soviet bombing in 1945. The destruction continued when Germany shelled Vienna at the end of World War II. Restored and rediscovered in 1948, St. Stephen's Cathedral is one of the greatest Gothic buildings in Europe, it is rich in carved wooden details, altars, sculptures and paintings. The 135-meter spire of the cathedral began to symbolize the spirit of Vienna. The history of the cathedral is intertwined with complex threads with the inhabitants of Vienna and the history of Austria as a whole. Mourners about the death of Mozart were here at his "funeral of the beggar" in 1791, and in 1805 Napoleon hung his farewell decree on the door.