Lutheran City Church

Last updated
Lutheran City Church
Wien - Lutherische Stadtkirche (2).JPG
Lutheran City Church
48°12′24″N16°22′07″E / 48.206533°N 16.36848°E / 48.206533; 16.36848 Coordinates: 48°12′24″N16°22′07″E / 48.206533°N 16.36848°E / 48.206533; 16.36848
Location Dorotheergasse 18,
A-1010 Vienna
CountryFlag of Austria.svg  Austria
Denomination Lutheranism
Website Official Website
Architecture
Functional statusActive
Architect(s) Pietro Ferabosco, Jakob Vivian
Architectural type Church
Style Renaissance
Completed1583
Administration
Diocese Lutheran Superintendency of Vienna
Clergy
Pastor(s) Wilfried Fussenegger, Julia Schnizlein, Ines-Charlotte Knoll (retired)
Laity
Organist(s) Erzsébet Windhager-Geréd
Music group(s)C.O.h.R.

The Lutheran City Church is a Lutheran church building in Innere Stadt, the first district of Vienna.

Contents

Location and architecture

The Lutheran City Church is located at Dorotheergasse 18, next to the Reformed City Church and opposite of the auction house Dorotheum. It was built in the Renaissance period and has a neoclassical facade. There is a triangular pediment above the main entrance. A blind, round arched window is attached to this pediment. It is flanked by two pilasters on each side and topped by large triangular pediment. The Lutheran City Church has no steeple, but a bell-storey.

The aisleless church has a transept-like extension giving it a cruciform floor plan. On all sides of the church there are matronea. The altarpiece painted by Franz Linder in 1783 is a copy of van Dyck's painting Christ on the Cross, which is kept in the Kunsthistorisches Museum just a short walk away. The carved choir stalls next to the altar were installed in 1876. The baptismal font on a scagliola column was transferred to the church in 1822. The hearts of Empress Anna, Emperor Matthias and Emperor Ferdinand II were originally buried in the building. The marble locking plates of their burial niches are located in the back of the church. Plaques commemorating the Protestant martyr Caspar Tauber and Emperor Joseph II are attached to the walls.

History

The Lutheran City Church was built as the monastery church of the Catholic Queen’s Monastery (Königinkloster in German) from 1582 to 1583. The Poor Clare monastery was consecrated to Mary, Queen of the Angels. It was founded by Elisabeth of Austria, daughter of Emperor Maximilian II and widow of King Charles IX of France. The queen dowager established the monastery probably as an atonement for the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre and spent her final years there. The original construction plans of the Queen’s Monastery are by Pietro Ferabosco. The construction was carried out by Jakob Vivian, the later Architect to the Imperial Court.

In the course of the Josephinist reforms, the monastery was abandoned in 1782. The same year, both a Lutheran and a Reformed congregation were able to constitute themselves in Vienna due to the Patent of Toleration of 1781. The parish based in the Lutheran City Church is the oldest of the Lutheran Superintendency of Vienna’s parishes. The Lutheran and the Reformed congregation both bought a part of the former Queen’s Monastery in 1783. The Reformed congregation built the Reformed City Church which was the first building in Vienna intended to be a Protestant church from the beginning. The Lutheran parish purchased the central part of the abandoned monastery including the monastery church. The other parts of the premises were acquired by the banker Johann von Fries who built the Palais Pallavicini there. The former monastery church was extended and converted into a Lutheran church. The three church towers had to be removed since the Patent of Toleration stated that Protestant churches should not be recognizable as churches from the outside. On 30 November 1783, the Lutheran City Church was inaugurated.

After a few minor structural changes a major modification of the building was carried out by the architect Otto Thienemann in 1876. The facade was redesigned so that the church was recognizable as such from the outside as well. This had been allowed by the Protestant Patent of 1861. In the 19th century, the composers Franz Lachner and Hermann Graedener were employed as organists in the Lutheran City Church and the distinguished piano maker Johann Andreas Streicher released a new service hymnal. The Lutheran City Church had to be rebuilt again in 1907 due to more stringent fire regulations after the Ringtheaterbrand. A direct exit to the street became necessary. The architect Ludwig Schöne turned the interior at 180 degrees by swapping the positions of the organ and the altar – an approach similar to the rebuilding of the neighboring Reformed City Church carried out by the architect Ignaz Sowinski in 1887. In World War II, the Lutheran City Church suffered severe damage. The facade was completely destroyed by an aircraft bomb in 1945. In 1948, the facade was rebuilt: plain, with bricked up windows and a distinctive stone cross on the smooth facade. This conversion was reversed in 1989 by restoring the neoclassical facade of 1907.

Related Research Articles

An edict of toleration is a declaration, made by a government or ruler, and states that members of a given religion will not be persecuted for engaging in their religious practices and traditions. The edict implies tacit acceptance of the religion rather than its endorsement by the ruling power.

Berlin Cathedral Lutheran church in Berlin

The Berlin Cathedral, also known as, the Evangelical Supreme Parish and Collegiate Church, is a monumental German Evangelical church and dynastic tomb on the Museum Island in central Berlin. Having its origins as a castle chapel for the Berlin Palace, several structures have served to house the church since the 1400s. The present collegiate church was built from 1894 to 1905 by order of German Emperor William II according to plans by Julius Raschdorff in Renaissance and Baroque Revival styles. The listed building is the largest Protestant church in Germany and one of the most important dynastic tombs in Europe. In addition to church services, the cathedral is used for state ceremonies, concerts and other events.

St. Marys Church, Gdańsk Church in Gdańsk, Poland

St. Mary's Church, or formally the Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is a Brick Gothic Catholic church located in central Gdańsk, Poland. With its volume between 185,000 m3 and 190,000 m3 it is currently one of the two or three largest brick churches in the world. Only San Petronio Basilica in Bologna, comprising 258,000 m3 is larger, Munich Frauenkirche and Ulm Minster also comprise 185,000 to 190,000 m3.

Innere Stadt 1st District of Vienna in Austria

The Innere Stadt is the 1st municipal District of Vienna located in the center of the Austrian capital. The Innere Stadt is the old town of Vienna. Until the city boundaries were expanded in 1850, the Innere Stadt was congruent with the city of Vienna. Traditionally it was divided into four quarters, which were designated after important town gates: Stubenviertel (northeast), Kärntner Viertel (southeast), Widmerviertel (southwest), Schottenviertel (northwest).

Schottenstift

The Schottenstift, formally called Benediktinerabtei unserer Lieben Frau zu den Schotten, is a Catholic monastery founded in Vienna in 1155 when Henry II of Austria brought Irish monks to Vienna. The monks did not come directly from Ireland, but came instead from Scots Monastery in Regensburg, Germany. Since 1625, the abbey has been a member of the Austrian Congregation, now within the Benedictine Confederation.

Schottenkirche, Vienna

The Schottenkirche is a parish church in Vienna attached to the Schottenstift, founded by Hiberno (Irish)-Scots Benedictine monks in the 12th century. In 1418, the Duke Albert V of Austria transferred it to the German-speaking Benedictine monks from the Melk Abbey during the Melker Reform initiated after the Council of Constance. The church was elevated to the rank of Basilica Minor in 1958.

Stadttempel

The Stadttempel, also called the Seitenstettengasse Temple, is the main synagogue of Vienna, Austria. It is located in the Innere Stadt 1st district, at Seitenstettengasse 4.

Capuchin Church, Vienna Religious establishment in Austria

The Capuchin Church in Vienna, Austria, is a church and monastery run by the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin. Located on the Neuer Markt square in the Innere Stadt near the Hofburg Palace, the Capuchin Church is most famous for containing the Imperial Crypt, the final resting place for members of the House of Habsburg. The official name of the church is Church of Saint Mary of the Angels, but it is commonly known in Vienna as the Capuchin Church.

Patent of Toleration 1781 edict by Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II

The Patent of Toleration was an edict of toleration issued on 13 October 1781 by the Habsburg emperor Joseph II. Part of the Josephinist reforms, the Patent extended religious freedom to non-Catholic Christians living in the crown lands of the Habsburg Monarchy, including Lutherans, Calvinists, and the Eastern Orthodox. Specifically, these members of minority faiths were now legally permitted to hold "private religious exercises" in clandestine churches.

Free City of Frankfurt Former city-state of Germany

For almost five centuries, the German city of Frankfurt was a city-state within two major Germanic entities:

Basel Minster Church

Basel Minster is a religious building in the Swiss city of Basel, originally a Catholic cathedral and today a Reformed Protestant church.

Clandestine church Secret places of worship by religious minorities

A clandestine church, defined by historian Benjamin J. Kaplan as a "semi-clandestine church", is a house of worship used by religious minorities whose communal worship is tolerated by those of the majority faith on condition that it is discreet and not conducted in public spaces. Schuilkerken are commonly built inside houses or other buildings, and do not show a public façade to the street. They were an important advance in religious tolerance in the wake of the Reformation, an era when worship services conducted by minority faiths were often banned and sometimes penalized by exile or execution.

Alservorstadt

Alservorstadt was an independent municipality until 1850 and is since then divided between Josefstadt and Alsergrund, the 8th and 9th districts of Vienna, respectively.

Vienna Museum Group of museums in Vienna

The Vienna Museum is a group of museums in Vienna consisting of the museums of the history of the city. In addition to the main building in Karlsplatz and the Hermesvilla, the group includes numerous specialised museums, musicians' residences and archaeological excavations.

Santa Maria delle Grazie alle Fornaci fuori Porta Cavalleggeri Church in Rome, Italy

Santa Maria delle Grazie alle Fornaci fuori Porta Cavalleggeri is a Baroque style, Roman Catholic parish and titular church located at Piazza di Santa Maria alle Fornaci, south of Vatican City and north of the San Pietro train station in the Aurelio quarter. It was made a cardinalate deaconry by Pope John Paul II on 25 May 1985, and assigned it to Cardinal Duraisamy Simon Lourdusamy, then Prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches. The church became vacant on 2 June 2014 after the death of Cardinal Lourdusamy. On November 11, 2016 it was announced that Mario Zenari will succeed him.

Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church, Vienna

Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church is a Greek Orthodox Church Cathedral in the first district of Vienna, Austria, in the historic Greek neighborhood of Vienna's Innere Stadt. The neighborhood has also been known as the "Fleischmarkt".

Dominican Monastery (Frankfurt am Main)

The Dominican Monastery is a former Christian monastery in Frankfurt am Main. It is the seat of Protestant Regional Association, a group of Protestant congregations and deaneries in the city, and serves as the convention site for the Synod of the Protestant Church in Hesse and Nassau, held usually twice a year. The former monastery compound includes a Lutheran church building, called the Church of the Holy Spirit.

St. Canisiuss Church, Vienna

The St. Canisius's Church is a Roman Catholic parish church in the 9th District of Vienna, Alsergrund.

San Nicolò allArena, Verona Church in Verona, Italy

San Nicolò all'Arena is a Roman Catholic parish church in the historic centre of Verona, Italy dedicated to Saint Nicholas. It is located close to the Arena, a well-preserved 1st century AD Roman amphitheatre. The present Baroque building was constructed between 1627 and 1683 on the site of an earlier Romanesque church which had existed since the 12th century or earlier. The church's façade remained incomplete until the neoclassical façade of the church of San Sebastiano was relocated to San Nicolò in the 1950s, after the former church was destroyed during World War II.

Entry of the Theotokos into the Temple Church, Bistrița Romanian Orthodox church

The Entry of the Theotokos into the Temple Church is a Romanian Orthodox church located at 8 Piața Unirii, Bistrița, Romania. It is dedicated to the Entry of the Theotokos into the Temple.

References