Michaelerplatz

This curved square lies at the point where Vienna's old town meets the imperial palace, closed at one end by the domed Michaelertor gateway into the Hofburg. Facing it stands the Looshaus, a plain modernist building of 1911 whose lack of ornament so scandalised the emperor that he is said to have avoided the window that overlooked it. In the centre of the square, excavations have laid bare Roman foundations beneath a glass canopy. The medieval St. Michael's church and rows of coffee houses complete the ensemble.