Maltese Church (Vienna)

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Main front of the Maltese Church
Relief with the Ottoman siege of Malta in 1565 on the monument to Grand Master Jean Parisot de la Valette
Chancel of the Maltese Church

The Malteserkirche (actually: Church of St. John the Baptist , occasionally also Johanniterkirche ) is a Gothic Roman Catholic church of the Order of Malta consecrated to St. John the Baptist in the Kärntner Straße in the 1st district of  Vienna Inner City .

History and architecture

The basis of today's Maltese Church was first documented in 1217 before the church as a place of "House of prudish of the Order of sand Johannis," which are the Coming of the pastoral care of the poor and supporting crusaders dedicated. Probably between 1205 and 1217 the Johanniter settled in what was then St.-Johannes-Straße (today Kärntner Straße 35 / Johannesgasse 2). The fourth crusade ended in 1204. Vienna was on the important road for crusades, which connected the west with the east along the Danube. The Kärntner Straße was less of a crusader route than an important trade route.

After the Vienna conflagration of 1258, which destroyed large parts of the medieval city, the order built a chapel dedicated to St. John the Baptist around 1265.

In the middle of the 15th century (1446) today's church was built. In the 17th century the church was the preaching place of Abraham a Santa Clara several times . In the Baroque era, the church was rebuilt in line with contemporary tastes, and during the renovation from 1806 to 1808 it was given an empire facade with Corinthian pilasters , tympanum , attic and a small bell-bearing tower again since 2007. Above the main entrance is the building inscription: "Aedes vetustate squalens / sacra Joanni Baptistae / ordinis hierosoly mitanae coelesti patrono / erecta et ornata Anno MDCCCVIII".

In 1839 the Johanneshof was built at Kärntner Strasse 35 / Johannesgasse 2 as the Kommendenhaus, in 1893 the Order built a second house at Kärntner Strasse 37, which had access to the church on several levels. Both buildings laterally enclose the church with the exception of its roof and choir; the church facade is integrated into the facades of the two houses. In 1857 the church was partially equipped with stained glass windows.

In 1933 the order got into a financial crisis as a result of the financial burdens from the First World War and had to sell the church, the Johanneshof and the house at Kärntner Straße 37, but was allowed to continue to use the listed church free of charge. In 1960 the church could then be bought back.

In 1968, 1972 and 1983 to 1984 the church was restored in several stages. In 1998 a general renovation took place.

The painting of the high altar , empirically researched in 1806/1808 , was painted by Johann Georg Schmidt in 1730 and depicts the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist. The Gothic keystone in the cross vault (a lion roaring at its boys, symbolic of Jesus awakening his congregation), the classicistic memorial relief for Grand Master Jean 'Parisot' de La Valette , the two wooden statues of the apostles Peter (with key) and Paul (with sword; both from the Empire period), the baroque copy of the icon of Mary " Our Lady of Philermos ”(above the tabernacle), the two wooden statues of Saints Anthony and Thaddäus (each on the right and left under the organ gallery), the empirical pulpit, over 40 coats of arms of individual members of the order . The interior of the church is simple and straightforward.

organ

View of the historic organ prospect

Around 1750 the church received a single manual parapet organ with eight registers in the main and pedal work (I / P / 8) from an unknown master organ builder . The organ was rebuilt in 1950 by the Pirchner organ builder from Steinach am Brenner in Tyrol , Austria , using historical casing and pipe material. The slider chest instrument has 16 stops on two manual works (main and chest) and pedal . The playing and register actions are mechanical.

I Hauptwerk C – g 3
1. Covered 8th' (H)
2. Principal 4 ′ (H)
3. Reed flute 4 ′
4th Quint 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
5. Night horn 2 ′
6th Mixture III 2 ′ (partly h)
II upper structure C – g 3
7th Reed flute 8th'
8th. Salizional 8th'
9. flute 4 ′ (H)
10. Super octave 2 ′ (H)
11. Larigot 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
12. Cymbal 1'
Pedals C – f 1
13. Sub-bass 16 ′ (partly h)
14th Octave bass 8th' (partly h)
15th Gemshorn 4 ′
16. bassoon 8th'
  • Coupling : II / I, I / P, II / P
  • Remarks:
(h) = historical pipe material
(partly h) = partly historical pipe material

Web links

Commons : Maltese Church  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Peter Csendes, Ferdinand Opll (ed.): Vienna - History of a City ; Part 1; Vienna-Cologne-Weimar: Böhlau, 2001, pp. 100 and 236
  2. ↑ a b c Churches in Vienna: Malteserkirche , accessed on September 17, 2012.
  3. ^ Eugen Messner: The inner city of Vienna. A contribution to the local history of the 1st district of Vienna. Vienna-Leipzig: Austrian Federal Publishing House for Education, Science and Art, 1928, p. 103
  4. ↑ cf. in addition the stone memorial plaque immediately to the left behind the house entrance at Kärntner Straße 37
  5. ↑ a b c d Website of the Order of Malta: Information on the Church , accessed on September 17, 2012
  6. ^ A b Günter Lade: Organs in Vienna. Vienna 1990, ISBN 3-9500017-0-0 , p. 54.
  7. ↑ Information on the organ ( Memento of the original from September 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed November 30, 2016. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.orgelmusik.at
  8. ^ Orgelbau Pirchner: Selected works , accessed on September 17, 2012.

Coordinates: 48 ° 12 ′ 18 ″  N , 16 ° 22 ′ 16 ″  E