Minoritenkirche, Vienna
Encyclopedia
The Minoritenkirche, formal name: Italienische Nationalkirche Maria Schnee (English: Greyfriars Church or Minorite Church, formal "Italian National Church of Mary of the Snows") is a church built in French Gothic
style in the Altstadt
or First District
of Vienna
, Austria
.
The site on which the church is built was given to followers of Francis of Assisi
in 1224. The foundation stone was laid by Premysl Ottokar II in 1276. Duke Albrecht II later supported the building process, especially the main portal. The Gothic Ludwig choir was built between 1316 and 1328, and used as a mausoleum
in the 14th and 15th centuries. Construction of the church was completed in 1350.
The top of its belltower was damaged during the first Austro-Turkish war, rebuilt, then again destroyed again during the second Austro-Turkish war; the top was then replaced by a flat roof.
When Joseph II
gave the church to the Italians
as a present, they transferred the name Maria Schnee ("Mary of the Snows") from a nearby chapel which was subsequently destroyed.
of Vienna
, northwest of the Hofburg, at the Minoritenplatz. The Minoriten were Franciscan
monk
s (Latin
: "fratres minores"). They were appointed in 1224 to Vienna.
After the city fire of 1275, the foundation-stone for the new church was placed by Ottokar Přemysl. It was one of the first Gothic churches in the east-Austrian area. After Ottokar's death in the battle on the Marchfeld, he was laid out here thirty weeks.
A crucial break came in 1782, when the Minorite church was closed in the course of the religious politics of Joseph II
. The church thereupon was renamed the "Italian National Church of Mary of the Snow" (Santa Maria Maggiore) – this name exists today still. In the course, the Minoriten brought the cross to its provided with a Christ picture also over the high altar, after evacuation to Wimpassing, so that, when it came some decades later back to Vienna, it was called the "Wimpassinger cross." A copy of it hangs today in the Stephansdom
cathedral.
and other female figures; on the right, John the Evangelist
, Saint Longinus the soldier, and other male figures. The outermost male and female figures could represent Duke Albrecht II and his wife Johanna of Pfirt, particularly since the male figure seems to wear a Duke hat. The figures are very elegant and fine-linked represented: probably a French influence, and, at the same time, an important style characteristic of the Minoritenwerkstatt, which date back until approximately 1360.
In the course of the new dedication also numerous changes were made by Johann Ferdinand Hetzendorf von Hohenberg, which were aimed at particularly on the removal of baroque on the inside. Nevertheless, it was not in the final result "Regotisierung," as this was called more frequently, since also parts of the gothical building of the Church were eliminated, in particular, the Ludwig choir.
In the following centuries, the church remained to a large extent unchanged, only that in different wars, the tower suffered damage several times. Around 1900, the last major changes took place, in particular, the construction of the choir-like sacrament's Sakramentshäuschens. In the course of the building of underground subways, into the late 1980s, the foundation walls of the Ludwig chapel were found, which are after-drawn at the place now.
The Chapel of Sf Anthony of Padua holds a Baroque altar made of polychrome marble and a glass window of the 17th century.
The walls covered with frescoes of the coats of arms of Austrian aristocratic families who either contributed to the construction of the Church or are buried here.
's The Last Supper
on the church's northern wall. It is a mosaic
made by the Roman
mosaic artist Giacomo Raffaelli
, commissioned by Napoleon I in 1809, but it was not finished before Napoleon's abdication. Francis II
of Austria bought it, wanting to install it in the Belvedere
in Vienna. As it was too large for the building, it was set up on the north wall of the church, where it remains to this day. The mosaic is 9.18 x 4.47 m and weight approximatively 20 tons.
in 1855. In the central relief, Pope Pius VI
is depicted blessing the dying Poet. Behind him the composer Salieri followed by W.A. Mozart, while J. Haydn
is looking at the Pope.
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
style in the Altstadt
Innere Stadt
The Innere Stadt is the 1st municipal District of Vienna . The Innere Stadt is the old town of Vienna. Until the city boundaries were expanded in 1850, the Innere Stadt was congruent with the city of Vienna...
or First District
Innere Stadt
The Innere Stadt is the 1st municipal District of Vienna . The Innere Stadt is the old town of Vienna. Until the city boundaries were expanded in 1850, the Innere Stadt was congruent with the city of Vienna...
of Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
.
The site on which the church is built was given to followers of Francis of Assisi
Francis of Assisi
Saint Francis of Assisi was an Italian Catholic friar and preacher. He founded the men's Franciscan Order, the women’s Order of St. Clare, and the lay Third Order of Saint Francis. St...
in 1224. The foundation stone was laid by Premysl Ottokar II in 1276. Duke Albrecht II later supported the building process, especially the main portal. The Gothic Ludwig choir was built between 1316 and 1328, and used as a mausoleum
Mausoleum
A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or persons. A monument without the interment is a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type of tomb or the tomb may be considered to be within the...
in the 14th and 15th centuries. Construction of the church was completed in 1350.
The top of its belltower was damaged during the first Austro-Turkish war, rebuilt, then again destroyed again during the second Austro-Turkish war; the top was then replaced by a flat roof.
When Joseph II
Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor
Joseph II was Holy Roman Emperor from 1765 to 1790 and ruler of the Habsburg lands from 1780 to 1790. He was the eldest son of Empress Maria Theresa and her husband, Francis I...
gave the church to the Italians
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
as a present, they transferred the name Maria Schnee ("Mary of the Snows") from a nearby chapel which was subsequently destroyed.
History
The Minoritenkirche stands in the Innere StadtInnere Stadt
The Innere Stadt is the 1st municipal District of Vienna . The Innere Stadt is the old town of Vienna. Until the city boundaries were expanded in 1850, the Innere Stadt was congruent with the city of Vienna...
of Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, northwest of the Hofburg, at the Minoritenplatz. The Minoriten were Franciscan
Franciscan
Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....
monk
Monk
A monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of monks, while always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose...
s (Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
: "fratres minores"). They were appointed in 1224 to Vienna.
After the city fire of 1275, the foundation-stone for the new church was placed by Ottokar Přemysl. It was one of the first Gothic churches in the east-Austrian area. After Ottokar's death in the battle on the Marchfeld, he was laid out here thirty weeks.
A crucial break came in 1782, when the Minorite church was closed in the course of the religious politics of Joseph II
Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor
Joseph II was Holy Roman Emperor from 1765 to 1790 and ruler of the Habsburg lands from 1780 to 1790. He was the eldest son of Empress Maria Theresa and her husband, Francis I...
. The church thereupon was renamed the "Italian National Church of Mary of the Snow" (Santa Maria Maggiore) – this name exists today still. In the course, the Minoriten brought the cross to its provided with a Christ picture also over the high altar, after evacuation to Wimpassing, so that, when it came some decades later back to Vienna, it was called the "Wimpassinger cross." A copy of it hangs today in the Stephansdom
Stephansdom
St. Stephen's Cathedral is the mother church of the Archdiocese of Vienna and the seat of the Archbishop of Vienna, Christoph Cardinal Schönborn, OP...
cathedral.
Exterior
The whole building follows the pattern of French Cathedral architecture. The building masters are unknown; however, it is commonly attributed to Jacobus Parisiensis, Fra Giacomo of Paris , who was confessor Duke Albrecht II. The portal follows a French pattern, rare for Austria. The Tympanum is divided by circle impacts into three fields, whereby in the middle field, Christ on a branch cross is displayed. On the left, is Mary with Mary MagdaleneMary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene was one of Jesus' most celebrated disciples, and the most important woman disciple in the movement of Jesus. Jesus cleansed her of "seven demons", conventionally interpreted as referring to complex illnesses...
and other female figures; on the right, John the Evangelist
John the Evangelist
Saint John the Evangelist is the conventional name for the author of the Gospel of John...
, Saint Longinus the soldier, and other male figures. The outermost male and female figures could represent Duke Albrecht II and his wife Johanna of Pfirt, particularly since the male figure seems to wear a Duke hat. The figures are very elegant and fine-linked represented: probably a French influence, and, at the same time, an important style characteristic of the Minoritenwerkstatt, which date back until approximately 1360.
In the course of the new dedication also numerous changes were made by Johann Ferdinand Hetzendorf von Hohenberg, which were aimed at particularly on the removal of baroque on the inside. Nevertheless, it was not in the final result "Regotisierung," as this was called more frequently, since also parts of the gothical building of the Church were eliminated, in particular, the Ludwig choir.
In the following centuries, the church remained to a large extent unchanged, only that in different wars, the tower suffered damage several times. Around 1900, the last major changes took place, in particular, the construction of the choir-like sacrament's Sakramentshäuschens. In the course of the building of underground subways, into the late 1980s, the foundation walls of the Ludwig chapel were found, which are after-drawn at the place now.
Interior
There were important changes under the first Habsburgs. Blanche of Valois, the wife Rudolf III, left a chapel for her grandfather, Ludwig of France (Heiligen Ludwig von Frankreich) to the Nordweiste, which was completed in 1328. It had a separate entrance and no connection to the nave. This was changed circa 1340, combined as the Ludwig chapel with the nave to a church hall with two choirs. Into the nave, new columns were added, and a new portal were constructed in the west.The Chapel of Sf Anthony of Padua holds a Baroque altar made of polychrome marble and a glass window of the 17th century.
The walls covered with frescoes of the coats of arms of Austrian aristocratic families who either contributed to the construction of the Church or are buried here.
High Altar
The Neo-Gothic high altar was made by Ferdinand Hohenberg. The altarpiece shows the Madonna della Neve (Our Lady of the Snow) revered in the Church of S. Maria Maggiore in Rome (copy by Christoph Unterberger). It is surrounded to the left by the statues of Ottokar of Bohemia and St. John the Baptist and to the right, by the statues of St. John the Evangelist and Leopold the Glorious.Mosaic of The Last Supper
There is a life-sized copy of Leonardo da VinciLeonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance...
's The Last Supper
The Last Supper (Leonardo)
The Last Supper is a 15th century mural painting in Milan created by Leonardo da Vinci for his patron Duke Ludovico Sforza and his duchess Beatrice d'Este...
on the church's northern wall. It is a mosaic
Mosaic
Mosaic is the art of creating images with an assemblage of small pieces of colored glass, stone, or other materials. It may be a technique of decorative art, an aspect of interior decoration, or of cultural and spiritual significance as in a cathedral...
made by the Roman
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
mosaic artist Giacomo Raffaelli
Giacomo Raffaelli
Giacomo Raffaelli was an Italian mosaicist from Rome. He is the author of a copy of Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper commissioned by Napoleon I. The mosaic resides at Vienna in the Minoritenkirche.- Sources :...
, commissioned by Napoleon I in 1809, but it was not finished before Napoleon's abdication. Francis II
Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor
Francis II was the last Holy Roman Emperor, ruling from 1792 until 6 August 1806, when he dissolved the Empire after the disastrous defeat of the Third Coalition by Napoleon at the Battle of Austerlitz...
of Austria bought it, wanting to install it in the Belvedere
Belvedere (palace)
The Belvedere is a historical building complex in Vienna, Austria, consisting of two Baroque palaces the Upper and Lower Belvedere, the Orangery, and the Palace Stables. The buildings are set in a Baroque park landscape in the 3rd district of the city, south-east of its centre. It houses the...
in Vienna. As it was too large for the building, it was set up on the north wall of the church, where it remains to this day. The mosaic is 9.18 x 4.47 m and weight approximatively 20 tons.
Monument for Pietro Metastasio
This monument, made by Lucardi, was erected in memory of the "Poet Laureate" MetastasioMetastasio
Pietro Antonio Domenico Trapassi, better known by his pseudonym of Metastasio, was an Italian poet and librettist, considered the most important writer of opera seria libretti.-Early life:...
in 1855. In the central relief, Pope Pius VI
Pope Pius VI
Pope Pius VI , born Count Giovanni Angelo Braschi, was Pope from 1775 to 1799.-Early years:Braschi was born in Cesena...
is depicted blessing the dying Poet. Behind him the composer Salieri followed by W.A. Mozart, while J. Haydn
Joseph Haydn
Franz Joseph Haydn , known as Joseph Haydn , was an Austrian composer, one of the most prolific and prominent composers of the Classical period. He is often called the "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet" because of his important contributions to these forms...
is looking at the Pope.
Madonna of Rossellino
This Madonna was executed by the Italian artist Antonio Gamberelli, nicknamed Antonio Rossellino, in Carrara marble (15th century).Paintings
- The glorification of St. John Nepomuck, by Bartolomeo AltomonteBartolomeo AltomonteBartolomeo Altomonte, also known as Bartholomäus Hohenberg , was an Austrian baroque painter who specialized in large scale frescoes...
- The foundation of abbey KlosteneuburgStift KlosterneuburgKlosterneuburg Priory is a Roman Catholic monastery of Augustinian Canons in the Lower Austrian town of Klosterneuburg on the Danube river, just north of the Vienna city limits at the Leopoldsberg....
, by Martino AltomonteMartino AltomonteMartino Altomonte, born Johann Martin Hohenberg was an Italian Baroque painter of Austrian descent who mainly worked in Poland and Austria.-Life and work:... - Delicate figure of St Francis of Assisi, painted by an unknown Master of the 16th century.
- The Holy Family by Hautzinger
- The Tragedy of the Plague, by Steiner
- St. Benedict and the Miracle of St Nicholas, by Daniel Gran
Trivia
- The Church is the subject of Adolf HitlerAdolf HitlerAdolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
's most renowned work of art, a watercolor painted in 1910. The painting is mentioned several times in the novel Deadeye DickDeadeye DickDeadeye Dick is a novel by Kurt Vonnegut originally published in 1982.- Plot summary :The novel's main character, Rudy Waltz, nicknamed Deadeye Dick, commits accidental manslaughter as a child and lives his whole life feeling guilty and seeking forgiveness for it...
by Kurt VonnegutKurt VonnegutKurt Vonnegut, Jr. was a 20th century American writer. His works such as Cat's Cradle , Slaughterhouse-Five and Breakfast of Champions blend satire, gallows humor and science fiction. He was known for his humanist beliefs and was honorary president of the American Humanist Association.-Early...
.
External links
- Viennas Minoritenkirche see here a video of the church