Prince Eugene Chapel

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The Kreuz- or Prinz-Eugen-Kapelle

The Prinz Eugen Chapel , which was previously called the Morandus Chapel , the Tirna, the Cross, the Liechtenstein and the Savoy Chapel, is located at the north corner of the portal facade of St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna . It was added to the left “Heidenturm” in the 14th century in Gothic style and the interior was later redesigned several times, especially in the 18th and 19th centuries. It is one of the four western chapels that go back to the expansion of St. Stephen's Cathedral under Duke Rudolf IV of Austria (1339–1365), and - at least as far as the walls are concerned - was completed during his lifetime. It is remarkable as the burial place of the famous Austrian general Prince Eugene of Savoy .

Morandus Chapel

It owes its oldest name "Morandus Chapel" to the Benedictine monk Morandus († 1115), who was canonized in the 12th century and who was first a monk in Cluny Abbey and later prior of Altkirch Abbey near Basel , that of the Counts of Pfirt - ancestors of Herzog's mother Rudolf IV - was founded around 1105 in Upper Alsace (today in France in the Haut-Rhin department ). This chapel was consecrated to him in Vienna because he was seen as a relative of the Habsburgs and revered as their protector, which is why Duke Rudolf the Donor acquired relics of the saint in Basel, which he himself buried in the floor of the chapel.

Tirnakapelle

The chapel owes its Gothic design to the Lower Austrian noble family von Tirna (also spelled Tierna and Tyrna), who played a leading role in the city of Vienna in the 14th century. So Friedrich von Tirna was on Rauhenstein and Sierndorf († after 1353) from 1348 to 1349 and 1352 mayor of Vienna and his brother Hans von Tirna († after 1388) at the festivals Rauhenstein, Karlstein an der Thaya, Goggendorf etc. from 1362 to 1364 Mayor. Two sons of Johannes von Tirna, Ludwig and Rudolf von Tirna, donated a large amount in 1397 to expand this chapel as a family burial place. The reason could have been the death of her brother Johannes von Tirna, who, as mint master of Vienna, was killed by a falling piece of scaffolding that same year. Around 1400 the chapel was named after the Tirna family and around 1403 it was finished to the point that mass could be read there and the Holy Sepulcher could be erected there on Good Friday. The von Tirna family, whose coat of arms is depicted in the chapel, but also twice on the outer facade of the chapel, retained the patronage of this chapel until it died out at the beginning of the 16th century.

In the 17th century, Wilhelm Rechberger, mathematics professor at the University of Vienna and director of the Vienna court library , carried out a baroque redesign, of which nothing has survived.

Liechtenstein Chapel

From 1717 the Austrian family of the Princes of Liechtenstein exercised the patronage of the chapel, whereby there were changes in the appearance. Johann Adam I. Prince of Liechtenstein, Duke of Troppau and Jägerndorf (1699 to 1712) had the large late Gothic crucifix from Italy installed above the altar of the chapel, with the hair and beard of Christ being made from real hair, which led to popular superstition, that “the Lord's hair grows”.

Savoy, Prince Eugene Chapel

Savoy tombstone; the Latin inscription says: “Consecrated place, which the most serene princess ... Theresia Anna Felicitas ... Duchess of Savoy ... for the funeral of her husband Emanuel Thomas, Duke of Savoy ..., who at the age of 42 years December 28, 1729 was torn away from the midst of the living by a leaf disease, and was built for other members of this noble house of Savoy who want to be buried here, so that they may rest here until they are resurrected in glory. "

His daughter, Princess Maria Theresia Anna von und zu Liechtenstein († 1772), who was married to Emanuel Thomas Duke of Savoyen-Carignan, Count of Soissons, left the burial place for her husband, who died in 1729, and for other members of the House of Savoy under the chapel invest. The grave slab made of Adnet stone is preserved , on which there are bronze applications, inscriptions and coat of arms (Savoy Cross) - framed by the collar of the Order of the Golden Fleece - and which leads to the crypt below.

In 1736 her husband's uncle, the famous general and statesman in the service of the House of Austria, Prince Eugene of Savoy- Carignan, was buried in the crypt. To the left of the south wall of the Heidenturm is the elaborate epitaph for him and for his nephew Emanuel Thomas of Savoy and his wife Maria Theresa Anna Princess of Liechtenstein in a large wall niche. It consists of a high altar structure, with a sham sarcophagus in front of a flat arched niche, which shows the relief representation of a Turkish battle, which was made by the goldsmith Joseph Wurschbauer in 1754/59. Above it stand the coat of arms of Savoy and Liechtenstein, held by two lions, crowned with a ducal crown, next to which there is a mourning figure bearing the portrait of Duchess Maria Theresa Anna of Savoyen-Carignan (née Liechtenstein). Above it rises a pyramid-shaped pilaster framed by army symbols with a memorial inscription, which is crowned by an urn.

The chapel was restored and redesigned in the middle of the 19th century. In 1853 the painter Johann Nepomuk Ender created a large fresco above the altar of the chapel around the Gothic cross, which shows the events on Golgotha , the hill outside Jerusalem on which, according to the Gospels, Jesus was crucified. Ten neo-Gothic statues of saints were also placed under the existing stone canopies on the pillars. The sculptors Johann Gasser and Franz Högler were commissioned to carry out the work.

The chapel is closed by a magnificent baroque iron grille, which also bears the coat of arms of the Savoy-Liechtenstein couple. This chapel is thus the most heavily baroque part of the cathedral.

The chapel is also a memorial for fallen priests: in addition to a flat relief with a dying soldier, a plaque lists the names of all Austrian priests who died in the two world wars.

literature

  • Wolfgang Zehetner, "The Prince Eugen Chapel". in “Our St. Stephen's Cathedral” No. 101 / Sept. 2013
  • Gabriele Hasmann, "St. Stephen's Cathedral". Pichler Verlag / Styria Verlag 2011, ISBN 978-3-85431-555-1
  • Alfred Missong, "Holy Vienna" Wiener Dom-Verlag, 3rd edition 1970

Web links

Commons : Prinz-Eugen-Kapelle  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ J. Siebmacher's large Wappenbuch, Volume 26; The coats of arms of the nobility in Lower Austria Part 2, S - Z, pages 364/65; Reprint edition of the arrangement by Johann Baptist Witting (Nuremberg 1918), Verlag Bauer und Raspe, owner Gerhard Geßner, Neustadt an der Aisch, 1983.
  2. ↑ Short biographies of the Viennese mayors on wien.at [1]
  3. ↑ J. Siebmacher's large Wappenbuch, Volume 26; The coats of arms of the nobility in Lower Austria Part 2, S - Z, page p. 365; Reprint edition of the arrangement by Johann Baptist Witting (Nuremberg 1918), Verlag Bauer und Raspe, owner Gerhard Geßner, Neustadt an der Aisch, 1983.
  4. ↑ Wolfgang Zehetner, "The Prince Eugen Chapel" in "Our St. Stephen's Cathedral" No. 101 / Sept. 2013
  5. ^ Alfred Missong “Holy Vienna”, page 29; Wiener Dom-Verlag, 1970
  6. ↑ Wolfgang Zehetner, "The Prince Eugen Chapel" in "Our St. Stephen's Cathedral" No. 101 / Sept. 2013
  7. ↑ Wolfgang Zehetner, "The Prince Eugen Chapel" in "Our St. Stephen's Cathedral" No. 101 / Sept. 2013
  8. ^ Alfred Missong, "Heiliges Wien", page 29; Wiener Dom-Verlag, 3rd edition 1970
  9. ↑ Locus sacer quem Serenissima Principissa ... THERESIA ANNA FELICITAS ... ducissa de Sabbaudia ... pro inhumando Serenissimo Coniuge suo ... EMANVELE THOMA duce de Sabbaudia ... aetate annorum XXXXII anno Domini MDCCXXVIIII XXVIII decembris morio vivolarum e med erepto. Nec non aliis de hac illustri Domo Sabbaudica hic sepeliri volentibus exstrui curavit ut HIC QUIESCANT DONEC GLORIOSI REVIVISCANT.
  10. ↑ European Family Tables , New Series, Volume III, 1st Part 1, Tables 1–200, Plate 33; Verlag JA Stargardt, Marburg, 1984
  11. ↑ Wolfgang Zehetner, "The Prince Eugen Chapel" in "Our St. Stephen's Cathedral" No. 101 / Sept. 2013
  12. ↑ Gabriele Hasmann “Der Stephansdom”, page 25; Pichler Verlag / Styria Verlag 2011, ISBN 978-3-85431-555-1
  13. ^ Austrian papers for literature and art: The restoration of the Liechtenstein chapel in St. Stephen's Church in Vienna ( online ); Supplement to the Österreichisch-Kaiserliche Wiener Zeitung; Monday, January 3rd, 1853

Coordinates: 48 ° 12 ′ 31.8 "  N , 16 ° 22 ′ 22.1"  E