In 1529 the Ottoman Empire tried for the first time to invade Vienna, they came very close to the city, at the time just the center of Vienna, know today as Innere Stadt or 1st. district was Vienna.

Because Vienna had a fortification wall around,it was a little difficult to get into the city, so they had the idea to dig some tunnels near the city gate

A legend says that on the corner of Strauchgasse and Freyung was a bakery shop, on a early morning day in September 1529 the bakers working underground at the cellar heard some strange noise coming from underground and some water inside the glass started to move ( i think Steven Spielberg got this idea for Jurassic Park) another version is that peas started to roll on a table, anyhow they figure it out that the Ottoman’s are trying to get into the city through tunnels, they alerted the guards and with some help from the population filled the tunnels with water – the Turks had to get back and did not get into the city.

On that corner you can see a statue of a Turkish horseman with a sword, underneath the name Da der Haydn scheuzzt in german Wo der Heide schießt – where the “Heide”  Shoot –  sorry couldn’t find a translation for HEIDE – it could mean where the pagan shoot – at the time many Viennese where very, very religious, but i’m not sure