Stephansplatz is the pulsing heart of Vienna, dominated by the Stephansdom, a cathedral nine centuries in the making. The South Tower took 65 years to build, averaging about seven feet a year. Turkish cannonballs from the 1683 siege are still lodged in its walls, and the great Pummerin bell in the North Tower was cast from iron the Ottomans left on the battlefield.

The square itself was once Vienna's central market, with standard measurements for bread and cloth built into the cathedral's facade. Merchants caught cheating could be dunked in the Danube. And the story of Beethoven realising he was deaf when the pigeons flew out but the bell made no sound is almost certainly apocryphal. Almost.

VoiceMap's self-guided audio tours use Stephansplatz to trace Vienna's layered history, from Roman Vindobona to Nazi resistance, revealing the carved secret codes and peculiar stonework that most visitors pass without a second glance.