George's Church (Vienna)
The Georgskirche , also called the Greek Church of St. Georg , is an Orthodox church in Vienna's 1st district, Inner City, on Hafnersteig in the former " Greek Quarter ".
The Church of St. George is the representative of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople in the Greek-Oriental Church in Austria , while the Church of the Holy Trinity on Fleischmarkt is the metropolitan cathedral of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Austria Exarchate of Hungary and Central Europe . The Georgsgemeinde takes part in the World Council of Churches in Austria .
history
In 1709, the parish of St. George established a small Greek chapel in the house of Alexandros Mavrokordatos . In 1723 the community received the right to erect a church by means of an imperial decree, but it was not until 1802 that the inn "Küss den kleine Pfennig" was acquired and a church was built in its place by 1806. This work was carried out by the architect Franz Wipplinger . In contrast to the congregation of the Greek Church of the Holy Trinity , whose members were Greek- believing subjects of the Habsburgs , the congregation of the Georgskirche was composed of subjects of the Ottoman Empire .
In 1898 donations made it possible for the architect Ludwig Tischler to extensively redesign the building and erect a bell tower . The donors included the Greek-Austrian entrepreneurs Nikolaus Dumba (who was also the community chairman) and Simon von Sina as well as Tsar Nicholas I of Russia . Prominent parishioners were the MP Theodor von Karajan and the Greek freedom fighter Rigas Velestinlis .
In the Second World War, the elaborate lead glazing (window front facing Greeks Lane) was destroyed and then partially restored. Today the entrance on Hafnersteig serves a rented shop and access to the church is via Greeksgasse.
architecture
The front of the building is modeled on a Greek temple. The gable shows St. George slaying a dragon. A cylindrical bell tower is built on the left side of the building and ends with a copper-clad dome.
The interior of the church has a single nave and is entered through a small anteroom. Konstantinos Parthenis created five large-format paintings around 1907 depicting St. Paul in Athens, St. Sergios, the Nativity, St. Nikolaus and the hll. Show Constantine and Helena. The ceiling has the shape of a dome with the evangelists depicted on the four corner spandrels. Above the main entrance is the depiction of Mary with the child, above the iconostasis Christ Pantocrator .
literature
- Willibald M. Plöchl: The Viennese Orthodox Greeks . Publishing house of the Association of Austrian Scientific Societies, Vienna 1983
- Ch. Chotzakoglou: The Greek-Oriental Churches in Vienna and the Greek Diaspora in Vienna . Art guide. Vienna and Athens, 1998
- Franz Gschwandtner / Christian host: The Eastern Churches in Vienna. A guide to the Orthodox and Oriental communities . Styria, Graz 2004
Web links
Coordinates: 48 ° 12 ′ 40 ″ N , 16 ° 22 ′ 37 ″ E