The square derives its name from the right of sanctuary (frey is an old word for “freeâ€) granted to any fugitive seeking refuge in the Schottenkirche (Scottish church), now at . The priory church was founded by Irish Benedictine friars, who came to Vienna in 1177. Although much altered, the church has a Neo-Classical fa?ade and a magnificent Baroque interior, which still bears features of its former Romanesque decor. Above the tabernacle stands the 13th-century statue of Our Lady, the oldest Romanesque sculpture in Vienna. The adjacent abbey buildings house a picture gallery with an interesting collection of medieval art. Other interesting buildings in Freyung include the Baroque Harrach Palace at , designed by Domenic Martinelli (1690) and, at , the Kinsky Palace, designed by Johann Lukas von Hildebrandt, who became the court architect in 1700. Nearby is one of the few remaining, largely unaltered Renaissance buildings, the Porcia Palace of 1546, one of the oldest in Vienna. At the centre of the square, in a glass-roofed, hexagonal atrium, stands the Austria Fountain. Erected in 1846, it shows an allegorical figure of Austria surrounded by four mermaids representing the major rivers (Danube, Elbe, Po, Vistula) in the Habsburg Empire at the time.
