Augustinian Church

The Augustinian Church is a Gothic Roman Catholic parish church in Vienna’s Inner City’s first district.The old Imperial Parish Church is now part of the Vienna Hofburg’s Albertina wing.

Architecture

From the exterior, the church seems unimpressive since it blends in with the neighboring structures, yet it boasts an outstanding interior.In 1767-1769, a wing of the court library (now the Austrian National Library) replaced the previous main facade with buttresses, central window, and doorway, which today contains the anteroom in front of the main gateway.On the north side, there is a square tower.The main gate on Josephsplatz leads to the interior’s three naves, which are 43 meters long and 20 meters high.The high choir, 40 meters long, 10 meters broad, and 24 meters high, connects to the nave.The high altar is surrounded by the 7/10 apse.

The nave was erected between 1330 and 1339 by architect Dietrich Landtner, although it was not dedicated until November 1, 1349. The Augustinerkirche was progressively swallowed by the adjoining Hofburg and is now a component of the complex. Although unnoticeable from the exterior, the interior is more elaborate. When the cathedral was renovated in the Gothic style during the time of Emperor Joseph II, 18 side altars were removed. In 2004, a new side altar was built, dedicated to Emperor Karl I of Austria (1887-1922), who is being considered for sainthood by the Roman Catholic Church.

When the church was restored to its former Gothic architecture in 1784/85, Hofarchitekt Johann Ferdinand Hetzendorf von Hohenberg created the pulpit.It is a forerunner of Gothic Revivalism in Central Europe. The white and gold timber framework is supported by a foliated Gothic capital. Simple blind tracery decorates the railing and the back wall. The abat-voix forms a canopy with the traditional dove sign and a Saint Paul statue on top. Martin van Meytens’ 1760 interior painting depicts another plain, rectangular pulpit with a Madonna figure on top.

Amenities

The burial monument for Archduchess Marie Christine of Saxe-Teschen (1800-05) by Antonio Canova on the right (west) side wall of the nave is an important piece of art.Canova’s own burial monument, which was created by his students in the church of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari in Venice, was inspired by the Roman Cestius pyramid.The relief tomb has an entrance into the world of the dead, as well as the dedication Uxori optimae Albertus (dedicated to Albert’s best wife).The entryway is approached by a completely modeled funeral procession.The metaphor of virtue with an urn and two little friends is followed by Caritas assisting an elderly man.On the right, on the stairs, a lion, a power sign, and an angel slumber; on the pyramid relief above the gate, a putto holds a palm branch, and a genius holds the archduchess’s picture.The monument was constructed between 1798 and 1805 and is regarded as the pinnacle of classicist funeral art.

Andreas Halbig created the high altar in the 15th century High Gothic style for the Votive Church between 1857 and 1870, composed of sandstone and painted in polychrome.The architect Heinrich Ferstel rejected the altar there, and it was moved to the Augustinian Church in 1873/1874.The center of the altar depicts Christ the King as the ruler of the universe, flanked by countless angels and Emperor Franz Joseph I’s patron saints.

The seats in the eastern nave bays, with their elaborately adorned cheeks and biblical figures on the front sides, were produced circa 1730 by Johann Baptist Straub and previously stood in Alservorstadt’s former second Schwarzspanierkirche.The seats with inlaid cheeks with Emperor Charles VI’s particular symbol are from the chamber or Joseph chapel in the Vienna Hofburg, which was changed during Emperor Joseph I and Maria Theresa, as well as the old Jakober convent.

The new altar table versus populum, built of Carrara marble, was installed in 2003.

On the side walls of the nave are two sculptures of the order’s principal saints in bishop’s regalia: Saint Augustine with the blazing heart in his right hand on the left (east) near to the “Bach organ”, and Saint Ambrose with a beehive and pen as Attributes.

History

Duke Frederick the Handsome (Friedrich der Schöne) erected this church with a cloister for Augustinian friars in 1327.

In 1634, the Augustinerkirche was designated as the imperial church’s parish church. Many Habsburg weddings took place there as an imperial church, including the wedding of Archduchess (and future Empress) Maria Theresa in 1736 to Duke Francis of Lorraine, Archduchess Marie Louise in 1810 to Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte of France, Maria Leopoldina in 1817 to Dom Pedro of Portugal, and Emperor Franz Joseph in 1854 to Duchess Elisabeth in Bavaria.

A working monastery of six black-robed Augustinian monks serves the parish’s needs.

Vienna, Austria