Heiligenstadt parish church of St. Michael

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Parish Church of St. Michael
South view of the parish church of St. Michael

The Heiligenstadt parish church of St. Michael is a Roman Catholic parish church in the Heiligenstadt district of the 19th district of Vienna Döbling . It is dedicated to Saint Michael .

history

For centuries, the Heiligenstadt parish of St. Michael was an important parish in today's district area. The church was mentioned for the first time in 1243 as a branch church of Klosterneuburg Abbey , and in the 14th century it was elevated to a parish church. The parish included not only Heiligenstadt, but also the surrounding villages of Nussdorf , Grinzing , Sievering , Salmannsdorf , Neustift am Walde , Oberdöbling and Unterdöbling . The pastors of the church were in turn provided by the monastery, whose members still look after numerous parishes in the district. Since the believers from the surrounding communities had to be looked after, Heiligenstadt also received a relatively large village church. Gradually, however, more and more of the surrounding towns were given parish rights, so that the importance of Heiligenstadt slowly declined. By founding the Sievering parish in 1348, Heiligenstadt lost large parts of the western parish area, as Salmannsdorf and Neustift am Walde also fell to the newly formed parish. Döbling, which later fell to the parish of Währing , soon became independent. The neighboring towns of Nussdorf and Grinzing, however, remained near Heiligenstadt until the parish reform by Joseph II .

The Gothic parish church had to be repaired after the destruction by the Turkish wars, in 1723 it was redesigned in baroque style. At the end of the 19th century, however, it was so dilapidated that it had to be torn down between 1894 and 1898, except for the choir and the foundation walls. Richard Jordan , who also built the neighboring Döbling Carmelite monastery , was responsible for the new building, which is similar to the old one except for the tower . Martin and Josef Schömer were also involved in the new building .

Building

inside view

The current parish church of Heiligenstadt is a neo-Gothic staggered church . Inside, the preserved Gothic choir is striking. It is not in a straight line to the main nave, but is slightly offset. It is also slightly sloping. The cause of this fact ( axis bend ) is assumed to be either the nature of the ground or the symbolism for the slightly inclined head of Jesus after the crucifixion . The high altar, designed by the architects named above, shows the church patron of the parish in the middle, and a neo-Gothic side altar, also by the architects, shows Saint Mary . From the baroque redesign of the church, only the side altar that is dedicated to Saint Sebastian remained . The original high altar by Matthias Steindl was given to the parish of Leopoldau , while the high altar painting by Johann Georg Schmidt was moved to the museum of the Klosterneuburg monastery. The Way of the Cross of the Church is even more recent. It was designed by Franz Zelezny in 1930/31. The main characters of the Passion of Christ were portrayed with the faces of prominent personalities (such as Federal Chancellor Seipel ) and residents of Heiligenstadt. The tower houses a five-part bronze bell, which was entirely cast by the Vienna bell foundry Pfundner in 1954. The bells have the tones d´- fis´- a´- h´- d´´.

literature

  • Godehard Schwarz: Döbling. Ten historical walks through Vienna's 19th district. Vienna 2004

Web links

Commons : Heiligenstädter Parish Church St. Michael  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 48 ° 15 ′ 12.9 ″  N , 16 ° 21 ′ 19.1 ″  E