Franciscan Church St. Pölten

The Franciscan Church is located on Rathausplatz in the Lower Austrian town of St. Pölten.The Roman Catholic parish church Trinity is part of the Deanery of St. Pölten, which is part of the Diocese of St. Pölten.The monastery church and the Franciscan monastery are both designated as historic sites.

The monastery church was erected between 1757 and 1768 with the help of Baroque master builder Matthias Munggenast.Until 1785, the Carmelite monastery’s church was patronized by the Infant Jesus of Prague.By 1779, the furniture had been completed. Under the supervision of the Franciscans, the church was elevated to the status of parish church in 1785.1986 was a year of restoration.

With its rococo main façade, the church structure abutting the monastery to the east dominated the north side of the town hall plaza, possibly as a mirror of the previous Carmelite Church diagonally opposite.The main facade features a high plinth zone and a segmental arch gateway with a statue of the Infant Jesus of Prague from the 17th century.Ionic pilaster bundles split the main floor into three axes and terminate with a flat-arched gable.The middle axis is bent somewhat.The windows and statuary niches are capped with angled and segmental arched gables and include Elijah and Teresa of Avila sculptures.The connection to the volute is high and brought in to the central axis.It houses burning vases and a niche with a statue of Joseph surrounded by adoring seraphim.

The late Baroque church faces north, and the nave is distinguished by rococo-style exquisite polychromy.The retracted entry bay and the chancel arch frame two transverse, concave swinging bays with Platzl vaults.The single bay choir is substantially recessed and features a circular apse.The walls are pilastered by backed wall templates with gilt capitals.The entablature is profiled and powerfully projecting all the way to the apse.On either side of the choir walls, there are two oratorio windows with wrought-iron lattice baskets.The vaulted ceilings of the two-bay Loreto chapel behind the choir.

Andreas Gruber (1770/1772) most likely built the high altar and the side altars.The high altar, which is a high niche retable with columns situated in the breadth of the apse, has a crucifix in the center and depicts St. Joachim and Anna, John the Baptist, the Mother of God, and in the extract, God the Father with the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove.

The altarpiece with Our Lady on Mount Carmel (1773) and an altarpiece with the death of St. Teresa (1772) by Martin Johann Schmidt are displayed on the front side altars as wall column reredos.St. Leopold and Florian are shown on the left side altar, while St. Elijah and Antony are depicted on the right.The tabernacle image on the left side altar is a replica of S. Pantaleon’s miraculous picture in Rome.St. Joseph is shown in the tabernacle on the right side altar.

The back side altars depict St. Judas Thaddeus’ martyrdom (1771), while the altarpiece on the right depicts St. Johannes Nepomuk delivering charity (1771); both works are by Martin Johann Schmidt.The left side altar has statuettes of St. Martin and a saintly bishop with a lamb as an attribute, and a relief of St. Judas Thaddeus at the top.The right side altar has holy Carmelite images and a relief of the Mother of God at the top.

A neo-baroque altar from approximately 1900 holds the Madonna figure of the Gorizia Mother of God from the 18th century, which was moved here in 1918 from St. Catherine’s Church near Gorizia, which was damaged during the war.A Rococo sculpture from 1760 supports a figure of Our Lady of Loreto on the altar in the Loreto Chapel.

The richly rocaille-carved pulpit features a sound cover with the eye of God sign, most likely by Andreas Gruber (about 1770).Around 1770, the confessional boxes, seats, and porch were built. An organ piece by Franz Capek (1904), expanded by Ferdinand Mölzer (1940), is housed in a beautifully built three-part case dating from circa 1770.