Dreiheiligenkirche

Dreiheiligenkirche is a Catholic parish church in Innsbruck, the capital of Tyrol in Austria. The church is located in the Dreiheiligen-Schlachthof area, which was once a slaughterhouse district. The church was built in the early 17th century as a result of a vow made during a plague outbreak. The church is dedicated to four saints: Sebastian, Pirmin, Rochus, and Alexius. The church has a rich history and a distinctive architecture that reflects the various styles and periods of its construction and renovation.

Architecture and Art

The Dreiheiligenkirche has a south-facing orientation, with the sacristy in the center of the three-sided closed chancel. The octagonal tower rises in the south-west corner of the church. The arcade from the cemetery that used to surround the church has been preserved.

The church has a neo-Romanesque façade that faces Dreiheiligenstraße, the main street of the area. The façade is lavishly decorated with a mosaic from 1900 that depicts the four church patrons and Mary with the infant Jesus above them. The mosaic was designed by Philipp Schumacher, a prominent Tyrolean painter, and executed by the Tyrolean Glass Painting and Mosaic Institute.

The interior of the church is a single, light hall covered by a flat barrel vault with lunettes. The pillars are adorned with pilasters. The rocaille stucco and ceiling frescoes were designed by Johann Michael Strickner, a Baroque painter, around 1750. The frescoes depict scenes from the lives of the church patrons and the Virgin Mary.

The church has three rococo altars in stucco marble with statues and putti by Stefan Föger, a sculptor from Innsbruck. The high altar shows the three church patrons, the left side altar shows Maria Immaculata by Johann Georg Dominikus Grasmair (1747), and the right side altar shows Melchior Stelzle (1614), the founder of the church. The pulpit by Johann Bartlmä Gratl, a woodcarver, is also from the rococo period.

History

The Dreiheiligenkirche was founded in 1611, when Innsbruck was hit by a plague epidemic. The plague chaplain Melchior Köstlan and the plague doctor Paul Weinhart convinced the city council and the citizens that the only way to stop the plague was to build a new church in honor of the plague patrons Sebastian, Pirmin, and Rochus. The church was built outside the city walls at a place called Kohlstatt, where there was a plague hospital.

The foundation stone was laid on April 12, 1612, with the permission of the king Maximilian III and the bishop of Brixen, Christoph Andreas von Spaur. The church was built quickly and consecrated on October 13, 1613, thanks to generous donations from Maximilian III, the city, and the citizens. The tower was probably built two years later.

The church was renovated in the rococo style between 1745 and 1750. The votive painting of St. Alexius was brought from the abandoned Siebenkapellenkirche in 1785, and he became the fourth patron of the church. The church was rebuilt and enlarged between 1860 and 1863. According to Anton Geppert’s plans, it was extended by a vestibule yoke, which required the alteration of the façade. The wooden shingle roof was replaced with a tiled roof, and the tower was raised.

The church was damaged by bombs during World War II, and the frescoes on the ceiling were ruined by water infiltration. The frescoes and the tower were restored in the 1950s. The church was completely renovated inside and out from 2010 to 2013, largely restoring its 1860 appearance. On October 13, 2013, exactly 400 years after the original consecration, Bishop Manfred Scheuer consecrated the altar after the church’s restoration was completed.

Dreiheiligen, which started as a benefice, became a curacy in 1786 and an independent parish in 1926.

Innsbruck, Austria