Church Am Hof

The Church at the Court (also known as the Church of the Nine Choirs of Angels) is a church in Vienna that was erected between 1386 and 1403 with the main façade dominating the plaza not completed until 1662.It’s on the east side of the Am Hof plaza in Vienna’s first district, Inner City.

History

In place of the earlier Romanesque court chapel, the Carmelites erected a three-nave Gothic hall church between 1386 and 1403.”Lucas Schwendtner from Magdeburg, Andreas the cellar master and’master builder with the white brothers at the court,’ Mathes the Helbling, master Simon the stonemason,” are the church’s master constructors.Andreas the cellar master is referred to as “Andreas Schuestl vom Petersfreythof” by Perger/Brauneis.

Because the church had fallen into ruin as a result of the Reformation, the later Emperor Ferdinand I gave it over to the militant Jesuits, whom he had summoned to Vienna three years earlier, in 1554.The three-aisled Gothic nave was reconstructed in the Jesuit Baroque style by 1610, following a fire in 1607. The side aisles were each enlarged by four connected chapels.The church’s porch or entry hall was completed in 1625, and in 1662, the widow of Emperor Ferdinand III., Eleonore von Gonzaga, an early baroque façade with a recessed center portion and a spectacular balcony, required that the entrance hall be moved forward.Carlo Antonio Carlone is credited with designing the church’s magnificent west façade, which dominates the Am Hof plaza.The stone sculptures from the hard Kaiserstein are documented by Master Johann Lorentisch of Kaisersteinbruch.The chancel, however, is still Gothic (as seen from Steindlgasse).

The organ gallery and a new organ were installed in 1763.Because the church, being a mendicant convent church, lacked a bell tower, a modest turret housing a bell was erected on the chancel roof in 1771.

The church at the court was given the duty of a garrison church after the Jesuit order was disbanded in 1773.In 1782, Pope Pius VI. issued the Easter blessings Urbi et orbi from the facade gazebo.In 1783, the church was elevated to the status of parish church as part of the Josephine church reform and the resultant new parish division of Vienna, and the Schwarzspanierkirche was chosen as the new garrison church.

The architect Johann Nepomuk Amann restored the chancel in the classical style in 1789, with the erection of a coffered semicircular barrel and apse dome.The high altarpiece with the theme “Mary surrounded by the nine choirs of angels” is also from the same year and was created by Johann Georg Däringer based on a design by Hubert Maurer.

On December 7, 1804, the Pragmatic Law was officially announced from the cathedral balcony, establishing Emperor Franz as the Hereditary Emperor of Austria.The widely held belief that Emperor Franz II’s statement on the abdication of the imperial crown was made from the same balcony on August 6, 1806, cannot be confirmed and is most likely the result of a mix-up.

The Jesuits took over the church again from 1814 to 1852.In 1816, they built the cross altar.In 1849, a third bell was purchased through a donation, and the organ was refurbished.It was given to the Archdiocese of Vienna in 1852.In 1867, they added gas lights.The church was returned to the Jesuit order after the Am Hof parish was abolished in 1908.

Pope John Paul II visited Austria in 1983 to commemorate Catholic Day and the 300th anniversary of the relief fight at Kahlenberg.On September 12, he went to the church and delivered a speech on “work” in front of it or from the balcony, among other things.Pope Benedict XVI. paid a visit to the cathedral and subsequently held a “station service” on the balcony with hundreds of believers during the 850th anniversary of the pilgrimage site of Mariazell in September 2007.

Today, the church serves as a place of worship for Vienna’s Croatian population.

Organ

The organ was created in 1763 by an unknown organ builder, however it is credited to Johann Friedrich Ferstl, a court organ builder.The unusually broad casing is in the rococo style, with a vivacious, strongly articulated shape.The organ has 24 registers spread over two manuals.The registration and key actuation are both mechanical.The organ was renovated or modified in 1804.During World War I, tin prospectus pipes were required for armament applications and were eventually substituted with inferior material (zinc).

Tombs

The “choir crypt,” also known as the “Jesuit crypt,” is located beneath the sanctuary and is approximately 20 meters long, extending nearly to the pulpit.It was established in 1662 at the request of Katharina Ursula, Countess of Abensperg and Traun.It is thought that some 90 Jesuits were buried there, including Vitus Georg Tönnemann and Maria Theresa’s confessor Anton Khabes (1771).The vault was presumably closed soon after 1786, and it was only reopened after more than 150 years in the 1930s.

Another crypt, known as the Montecuccoli crypt, may be found on the north side aisle beneath the Liborius chapel.It contains the graves of General Raimund von Montecuccoli, Emperor Ferdinand II’s confessor, Wilhelm Lamormaini, and the Jesuit martyr Karl de Boranga (1684).The latter was reburied here after being moved from the choir vault.

Albrecht Altar

The patronage of the court church is “To the nine choirs of angels.”The church’s previous Albrecht altar depicts similar groups of angels as well.During the reign of King Albrecht II, the Viennese citizen Oswald Oberndorffer gave this winged altar with 24 panels.

Following the demise of the Jesuit order, the altarpiece was dismantled and transferred to the Klosterneuburg monastery.The photographs were shown at the museum before being repaired and reconstructed from 1962 to 1981.The altar is one of Austria’s most notable works of Gothic Realism.It is presently on exhibit at the Klosterneuburg college church’s Sebastiani chapel.

Vienna, Austria