Votivkirche show: practical

Finding the church

The organiser gives the venue as the Votivkirche, Rooseveltplatz, 1090 Vienna, which places it in the ninth district, Alsergrund. The church stands on the Ringstrasse and is surrounded by a park, the Votivpark, which a street separates from the Sigmund Freud Park. The main building of the University of Vienna is nearby. Use the address in your confirmation as the thing to type into a map app, and look for the main door. The Votivkirche is also a parish church with its own opening hours, published by the parish; the show is a separate booking with its own ticket office, so do not rely on a daytime visit to get you in.

Getting there by public transport

The nearest large transport interchange is Schottentor, which sits beside the University of Vienna's main building. Wikipedia calls it one of the busiest hubs in the city, with a U-Bahn station, several tram lines and buses meeting there. Vienna's own route planner will give you the current route from your hotel, so check it on the day instead of trusting a printed line number. The church and the interchange are both on the Ringstrasse, near the university, so a map app will show the way on foot. Allow extra time on a first visit, because a busy junction is easy to cross at the wrong place. Wikipedia counts thirteen lines converging there, which is why a quick check on the day is worth the minute.

Arrival and the ticket office

On the GetYourGuide ticket, the ticket office is at the venue. Admission runs from 30 minutes before the show until five minutes before it, and the voucher has to be exchanged at the ticket office no later than 15 minutes before the start. The organiser's FAQ asks guests to arrive at least 15 minutes early to allow smooth entry and time to find a seat. Aim for the early part of the window: it gives you the choice of where to sit and avoids the last-minute queue. Latecomers are not admitted, and the show is too short to catch the end of. Keep your confirmation ready, because the voucher is the document you exchange.

Before you go in: the restroom

The booking page notes plainly that there is no restroom. That is easy to forget when you are focused on tickets and timing, and in a historic church with a fixed capacity there is no room for a break halfway through a 30-minute show. Use a restroom before you arrive, and take extra care if you are travelling with older children or anyone who needs one at short notice. The show is short, but this is the practical detail most likely to catch a first-time visitor out. The booking page lists nothing under inclusions except the entry ticket, so do not expect refreshments during the half hour.

Cold in winter, warm in summer

The organiser says the venue is not air-conditioned and is unheated in winter, so warm clothing is advisable then. The booking page agrees that the Votivkirche is cold in winter and adds that it can be hot in summer. A stone Gothic church holds the temperature of the season, and half an hour of sitting still makes a chill worse. In winter, wear layers, a scarf and gloves. In summer, wear light clothing and expect a warm room. The organiser says there is no formal dress code and recommends comfortable clothing suited to sitting in a historic building. Neither the booking page nor the organiser's FAQ mentions a cloakroom, so travel light and keep your coat with you.

Children and age limits

The organiser welcomes children aged six and over, and each child needs a separate reduced ticket. Children under six and babies are not admitted, and the booking page lists the same limit in capitals. Every person present counts toward the capacity limit, which is set by escape-route regulations, so there is no way to bring a small child along for free. The show is built from changing light and sound, so it works for children who can stay still for thirty minutes. Baby carriages are on the list of things not allowed. Think carefully about whether your child copes with a dark, echoing building, since some do not.

Access and health

The booking page lists the show as unsuitable for people with epilepsy and for visually impaired people, which follows from a show made of changing light. On wheelchair access, the information conflicts. The booking page carries a wheelchair-accessible label and also lists wheelchair users as not suitable. The organiser's FAQ says the Votivkirche is accessible for people with disabilities and asks guests with special needs to contact the organisers in advance. Do that before you book, in writing if you can, so that your seat and your route into the nave are settled on both sides. Ask in the same message about the seat and the route from the door to the nave.

Photos, phones and the dark

The rules read differently in two places. The booking page lists flash photography, flashlights, selfie sticks and making noise as not allowed. The organiser's FAQ allows photos and video during the performance only without flash or extra lighting, and says photos before and after the show are fine. The safe reading is the strict one. Even a phone screen is bright in a dark nave, and visitor reviews return to filming as the main distraction. Take your pictures of the church before the lights go down, and then watch the show with your own eyes. A lit screen or a camera light washes out projected light for everyone nearby, and the show depends on the dark.

What you will see and hear

The organiser calls Light of Creation a 30-minute immersive light show that tells the story of creation. The organiser says modern projection technology is used to work the neo-Gothic architecture into the design. Wikipedia describes projection mapping as turning objects, often irregular ones, into display surfaces, and a Gothic interior is exactly that kind of surface. The score is an original orchestral work that runs from quiet, meditative passages to powerful and festive ones. The organiser says the show is made to be accessible whatever your age, religion or prior knowledge, so you do not need to know the Genesis story to follow it. Large building projections are now a staple of light festivals such as Lyon's Fête des Lumières.

Who this isn't for

Skip the show if you want live musicians: the organiser presents a light show with an original orchestral score, and the booking page lists no performers. Skip it if anyone in your party is under six, has epilepsy or is visually impaired. Skip it if you cannot manage half an hour seated in a cold or hot stone building without a restroom. And skip it if you want a walk round the church with commentary: the ticket covers the show alone, not a visit. If you want music, the comparison guide lists church concerts that give you a live ensemble instead, with their own seating and age rules. It is also not a daytime visit: the church's own visiting hours are a separate matter for the parish.

Read next: Light show or concert?

Fitting it into an evening

A 30-minute show asks little of a day, and the church sits among several famous Ringstrasse buildings, including the university, the Rathaus and the Burgtheater. The Ringstrasse is about 5.3 kilometres long, according to Wikipedia, and went up mainly in the later 1800s. The evening-walk guide on this site suggests how to use the parks and the Ring before or after the show. Whatever you plan, leave a margin before the start time on your confirmation, because the voucher exchange and the seat search both take longer than expected. Eat before or after rather than in between, since half an hour leaves no gap for a meal.

Read next: Votivkirche and the Ring