Page 56 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Vienna

54  INTRODUCING VIENNA VIENNA A T A GLANCE  55

Exploring Vienna’s Churches to the Romanesque period, expression of gratitude for Franz
the bulk of the rather squat Joseph’s escape from assassi na-
Many of Vienna’s churches have undergone modifications Schottenkirche was built tion, is based on French Gothic
over the centuries, and they often present a fascinating between 1638 and 1648. In the architecture; its richly coloured
mixture of styles, ranging from Romanesque to Baroque. middle of the Baroque square of interior contains the marble
The great era for church building in the city was in the 17th Am Hof is the impressive façade tomb of Count Niklas Salm, who
of the Kirche am Hof. It was
defended Vienna from the Turks
and 18th centuries, when the triumphant Catholic church, in founded by the Carmelites and during the siege of 1529 (see
a spate of Counter-Reformation fervour, remodelled several is also known as “Church of the p26). On Lerchenfelder Strasse
early churches and built new ones. A number of churches Nine Choir Angels”. the red-brick Altlerchenfelder
were also constructed after the Turks were defeated in 1683 Kirche is a 19th-century
(see pp28–9) and, as a result, the city was able to spread out The frescoed interior of the late Baroque architectural hodgepodge of
Gothic and Italian Renaissance
Stanislaus-Kostka Chapel
beyond its earlier confines.
styles and the interior features The haphazard, sculpted blocks of the
colourful frescoes. modern Wotruba-Kirche
19th-Century Churches
Augustinerkirche has superb
Medieval Churches Gothic interiors and contains During the 19th century the Central Cemetery, was built
At the heart of the city is the the hearts of the Habsburg prevailing mood in Viennese 20th-Century Churches by Max Hegele, a protégé
Stephansdom. Parts date from families (see pp26–7) down the architecture was one of A masterpiece of early of Otto Wagner, and has the
the Romanesque period but centuries and Antonio Canova’s Romantic historicism. Elements 20th-century church same monumental feel about
most of the cathedral is Gothic; tomb for Maria Christina (see of past styles were adopted and architecture is Otto Wagner’s it. For true devotees of modern
its collection of Gothic sculpture p104). The Minoritenkirche recreated, in churches and (see p59) massive Kirche am art, there is the Wotruba-
includes a pulpit by Anton has a French Gothic façade many other municipal buildings, Steinhof, built to serve a Kirche on Georgsgasse in the
Pilgram (see p76). Vienna’s oldest and with an ornate interior; specifically on the Ringstrasse psychiatric hospital. The suburb of Mauer, designed by
church is the Ruprechtskirche, the same is true of the 13th- (see pp34–5). The Griechische interior has a slightly clinical the sculptor Fritz Wotruba. A
which stands in its own square century Burgkapelle. Kirche on Fleischmarkt took its air, since it is tiled in white, haphazard-looking assembly
in the Bermuda Triangle (see inspiration from Byzantine but the austerity is relieved of large concrete blocks, its
p86); its plain façade 17th­Century Churches Carving of St Anne (c. 1505) in Annakirche, architecture, and the interior is by Kolo Moser’s (see p59) abstract form is not popular
contrasts with the attributed to Veit Stoss replete with iconostases and stained-glass windows and among everyone.
delicate Gothic There is little Renaissance frescoes. The Votivkirche, built mosaics. The Luegerkirche,
tracery of Maria architecture in Vienna, but a just off the Ringstrasse as an which is located in the Finding the Churches
am Gestade, number of churches built Late Baroque and
Neo­Classical Churches
which has a filigree before the Turkish siege Altlerchenfelder Kirche,
spire and a lofty, survive. The Franziskanerkirche, After the Turkish defeat (see Lerchenfelder Strasse 111.
vaulted interior. with its gabled façade and pp28–9), a number of Viennese Map 3 A1.
The early interior of theatrical high altar, and the High Baroque churches were Annakirche p82
the Deutschordens­ Jesuitenkirche are fine built. The most exotic is the Augustinerkirche p104
kirche contains a examples of the architecture Karlskirche, commissioned by Burgkapelle p105
number of heraldic inspired by the Counter- Emperor Karl VI after the plague Deutschordenskirche p78
blazons. A late Reformation (see p26). The epidemic of 1713, and just off Dominikanerkirche p79
Romanesque Ursulinenkirche, built between the Graben is the great Franziskanerkirche p81
basilica with Gothic 1665 and 1675, has a high- Peterskirche. The tiny, ornate Griechische Kirche p83
modifications lurks galleried interior while the Stanislaus­Kostka Chapel Jesuitenkirche p79
behind the façade of Annakirche is notable for its was once the home of a Polish Karlskirche pp148–9
the Michaelerkirche. beautiful Baroque tower. The saint. Two graceful 18th-century Kirche am Hof p89
The 14th-century Dominikanerkirche has a churches are to be found on Kirche am Steinhof p162
majestic early Baroque façade, the edge of the inner city: the Luegerkirche p170
Madonna and Child in the built in the 1630s by Antonio majestic Maria­Treu­Kirche Maria am Gestade p87
Minoritenkirche Caneval. Although it dates back and the Ulrichskirche. 19th-century interior of the Altlerchenfelder Kirche Maria-Treu-Kirche p118
Michaelerkirche p94
Minoritenkirche p105
Towers, Domes and Spires Ruprechts- Maria am Jesuitenkirche Peterskirche Karlskirche
kirche Gestade Peterskirche p89
Vienna’s skyline is punctuated by Ruprechtskirche p83
the domes, spires and towers of its Schottenkirche p112
fine churches. Topping Maria am Stanislaus-Kostka Chapel,
Gestade is a delicate openwork Kurrentgasse 2. Map 2 D5
lantern, while the Ruprechtskirche & 5 C2.
tower is characteristically squat. Stephansdom pp74–7
The towers of the Jesuitenkirche Ulrichskirche p118
are Baroque and bulbous, and Ursulinenkirche, Johannesgasse 8.
Karlskirche has freestanding Map 4 E1 & 6 D4.
columns. Peterskirche has an Votivkirche p113
oval dome and small towers. Wotruba-Kirche p173

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