St. Erhard Church

The Roman Catholic Erhardkirche, actually parish church of St. Erhard or Stadtpfarrkirche St. Erhard, also parish church of St. Erhard Salzburg-Nonntal (patrocinium on January 8th, but external celebration on the 2nd Sunday in July), is a church building owned by the city of Salzburg and located in the Nonntal district there.

The baroque church, completed in 1689, is located in the Inner Nonntal, which is part of Salzburg’s UNESCO World Heritage Historic Center and is a listed structure.

The ancient Gothic Erhard church was referenced for the first time in 1404.Because the chapel was adjacent to the nearby hospital, it was largely utilized as a hospital church.She had previously visited St. Erhard, a shrine to the patron saint of the ill and needy.It was originally utilized as the hospital church of the Nonnberg Benedictine abbey.The hospital may be found in 1310.The hospital and chapel were purchased in 1603 by Prince Archbishop Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau to replace the chapter hospital in the Kaiviertel, which was being restructured at the time.

The architect Giovanni Gaspare Zuccalli erected today’s Erhardkirche in the Italian Baroque style on behalf of the cathedral chapter under Archbishop Max Gandolf von Kuenburg from 1685 to 1689.It has a main tambour dome capped with a lantern, framed by thinner side towers with dome-like spires.The cathedral chapter’s coat of arms may be observed in the gable.The towers’ octagonal bell floors were last renovated in 1711.Benedikt Eisenberger (1686) created the first church bell.

The entry doorway is constructed as a portico with a double-winged stairway, giving the impression that it is part of a grand Renaissance castle.The towering, wonderfully built entryway testifies to previous floods from which the church had to be sheltered.

Andreas Götzinger designed the Erhardibrunnen wall fountain in front of the church in the center of the portico foundation in 1688.It includes a humped marble bowl and a gargoyle with a lion’s head, and it was principally used for the cathedral chapter’s servants’ hospital.It was particularly famous because the water was thought to have healing qualities, and it also recalls Saint Erhard, who is claimed to have always dug fresh wells when he started a mission.

Andreas Götzinger designed the high altar.The segmental arch gable depicts the Holy Trinity as a group of figures.The coat of arms of Johann Ernst may be seen on the entablature, which is supported by four Solomon columns.The altarpiece depicts St. Ottilie’s baptism by St. Erhard.In 1692, Johann Michael Rottmayr created this oil painting.The tabernacle, with its ornate furnishings, was built between 1747 and 1749 and displays the coat of arms of the client, Prince Archbishop Jakob Ernst.

The side altars are built similarly: the left altarpiece depicts St. Charles Borromeo as a plague victim in Milan, carrying the city’s famed nail relic during a procession.St. Franz Xaver is shown as a missionary with a holy water spray on the opposite altarpiece.Franz de Neve is credited with the two side altar altarpieces.The splendor of St. Francis Xavier is represented in the gable of the right side altar.Salzburg canons contributed the side altars.The coats of arms on the high altar and side altars also show the hierarchy after the conflict at the time between the canons and the prince-archbishop, which the prince won.There is also the heart urn of a cathedral provost in the wall, close to the right of the Börromäus altar.