With the imperial purse withering and Gothic styles losing their allure, work on a second tower on Stephansdom was abandoned and in 1579 the half-completed north tower (Nordturm) was given a Renaissance cupola. Austria’s largest bell, weighing in at a hefty 21 tonnes, is the Pummerin (boomer bell) and was installed here in 1952. The north tower housing it is only accessible by lift, accessible without a ticket to the main nave.
