Kirche am Leopoldsberg, Northern Vienna

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The Leopoldsberg is a hill north of Vienna. At the Leopoldsberg, the Babenberg ruler Markgrave Leopold IV built a little castle to oversee the Danube valley towards east. This was done in the 11th century, but settlers had arrived here much earlier. The Leopoldsberg is therefore often referred to as the "cradle of Austria". Today, only the foundations and some outer walls are preserved of the castle.

Another key-moment in the history of the Leopoldsberg was in 1683, when the united armies of the Holy Roman Empire of German Nation and Poland gathered probably here before attacking the Ottoman Army during the Second Siege of Vienna - a battle that was later called "Battle of the Kahlenberg", the nearby hill with the tourist platform look-out.

Even today, the Kahlenberg draws most attention and relatively few tourists make it to the Leopoldsberg; they are missing out: In the picture above you can see the Baroque chapel that was built in 1693 to commemorate the battle. The view on Vienna is as stunning as it is from the Kahlenberg - but in addition, you can see much of Klosterneuburg and the Danube valley north of Vienna. There are bus links to Leopoldsberg, but they are less frequent than those for the Kahlenberg (same line, but some busses don′t go all the way). However, hiking from Kahlen- to Leopoldsberg is easy and takes no more than maybe 20 minutes. Busses depart from Heiligenstadt.