Graben, Historic square and pedestrian street in Vienna's first district, Austria.
The Graben stretches from Stock-im-Eisen-Platz to the intersections of Kohlmarkt and Tuchlauben, forming part of Vienna's Golden U shopping district with luxury boutiques, traditional court suppliers, and elegant architecture lining both sides of the pedestrianized street.
Originally a Roman defensive ditch around the encampment of Vindobona, the trench was filled in during the twelfth century with ransom money paid for King Richard the Lionheart, transforming the area into a residential and commercial street that developed throughout the Middle Ages.
The street served as a venue for grand imperial processions and religious festivals, including the Feast of Corpus Christi, and features the baroque Pestsäule plague column erected by Emperor Leopold I as a memorial commemorating Vienna's deliverance from the plague epidemic of the seventeenth century.
Converted into Vienna's first pedestrian zone in nineteen seventy-three, the Graben is accessible via the Stephansplatz U-Bahn station and remains open year-round, with shops operating during standard business hours and seasonal decorations enhancing the area during the Christmas period.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart lived at Graben seventeen as a young man in seventeen eighty-one, and in fifteen fifty-two, the first elephant ever seen in Austria was paraded along the street during Emperor Maximilian's celebrations, marking two memorable moments in the street's long history.
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