Minoritenkirche - Vienna, Austria
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BakaGaijin
N 48° 12.572 E 016° 21.819
33U E 601308 N 5340487
The Minoritenkirche (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 1st district of Vienna.
Waymark Code: WM7V2A
Location: Wien, Austria
Date Posted: 12/04/2009
Views: 63
The Minoritenkirche stands in the Innere Stadt of Vienna, northwest of the Hofburg, at the Minoritenplatz. The Minoriten were Franciscan monks. They were appointed in 1224 to Vienna.
After the city fire of 1275, the foundation-stone for the new church was placed by Ottokar Premysl. 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 religion 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.
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.
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.
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. -- There is a life-sized copy of Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper on the church's northern wall. (see the waymark WM7T6K)
Source: Wikipedia
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