Augustinian Church, Vienna

The Augustinian Church is a Gothic Roman Catholic parish church in the 1st district of Vienna Inner City. The former imperial Hofpfarrkirche is now part of the Albertina tract of the Vienna Hofburg.

2.1 Church vault and side chapels

3.1 premieres (selection)

4.1 Main organ
4.2 Wiener Bach organ

History

In 1327 the Habsburg Duke Frederick donated the Beautiful the Augustinian Hermits Medal ( 1963: Augustinian ) monastery with a church. The nave was Dietrich Landtner of Pirn 1330-1339 built by master builder, but only consecrated on 1 November 1349. First, the imposing Gothic building stood alone, but when they built the Imperial Palace and built the Albertina tract ( Augustinertrakt ), the church was incorporated into the building complex. In 1634, the Augustinian church was appointed imperial Hofpfarrkirche ( until 1918 ), in which we performed the marriage ceremonies of the Habsburgs. The most important weddings were those of Archduchess Maria Theresa and Francis of Lorraine in 1736, the deputy wedding of their daughter Archduchess Marie Antoinette on April 19, 1770 the future King of France, Louis XVI. , And the wedding of Emperor Franz Joseph I to Princess Elisabeth ( Sisi ) of Bavaria on 24 April 1854. Starting with the creation of the Archdiocese of Vienna in 1729, used to dress the newly appointed archbishops in the Augustinian Church.

Around 1784 /85, the church under Joseph II of Oberhof architect Johann Ferdinand Hetzendorf of Hohenberg ( 1733-1816 ) was re-gothicised; to 18 side altars were torn out, which had been built in the period 1630-1780. Inside you will find the important tomb for the Archduchess Marie Christine of Saxe -Teschen ( 1800-05 ) by Antonio Canova.

Augustinian Monastery

The monastery of St. Augustine, founded in 1327, originally belonged to the Bavarian province in 1299 installed the Augustinian Hermits - Order ( Bavaria, Bohemia, Moravia, Austria, Silesia, Poland). She was at that time significantly and provides during the Middle Ages to the 50 auxiliary bishops. During the Reformation, many offices were abandoned, Vienna remained more busy. The Counter-Reformation was a restoration of the Order (at the time, formed the stricter Augustinian Discalced, which about the popular preacher Abraham a Santa Clara belonged ). The re- establishment of some 20 monasteries arose in the Habsburg Empire from the 17th century three provinces. The Augustinian monastery on the highway ( Vienna 3rd, 1695 est., 1812 repealed and 1912, demolished) was directly as a General Convention of the General of the Order in Rome, and Provincial of the Province of Vienna, as well as House of Studies professors who at 150 years, the Chair of Moral Theology the University of Vienna occupied. The monastery at the Imperial Palace was the Court monastery, presented since 1634 the Imperial Hofpfarrer and the pastoral care of the members of the imperial court, and hosted the major religious ceremonies of court life. The integrated in the monastery chapel of St. George was a meeting room of the Knights of the Order of Saint George ( short-lived recovery). The tomb was next to the Hapsburg Imperial Crypt, the most important grave laying of the court nobility.

In the Josephine reforms almost all the Hermits of Saint Augustine monasteries were abolished, which at the Hofburg Palace in 1836 ( The Hofpfarre was up in 1918 by priests of the world based here Frintaneums continued ). Only a few convents in Bohemia and Moravia remained, which were not lifted until the Communist era. The after the Second World War from there distributed Sudeten German Augustinians founded a new religious association, the Vicariate of Vienna, the German Augustinian Province, today as Austrian- South German circumscription a vicariate under the direct jurisdiction of the Prior General. In 1951, she settled in the Hofburg new monastery.

The Augustinian Vicariate of Vienna Maria Trost today comprises St. Augustine Vienna and the 1962 built monastery Maria Trost in Zwiesel / Bay. Forest. The Vicariate include (as of 2013) 10 Brothers, of which 4 in Vienna are at home. Prior is currently Dominic P. Sadrawetz OSA will be supervised parishes of St. Augustine and Aspersdorf. On the ground floor of the convent tract, the parish and the Convention is housed on the 1st floor the exam.

Parish of St. Augustine

At the parish also includes the Maltese Church, St. Ursula, Anna Church and Capuchin Church, and the chapel of the Imperial Palace and the Elisabeth Chapel in the center of St. Elizabeth.

Buildings

The church looks from the outside rather unremarkable because it fits in with the surrounding buildings, but has an impressive interior. Through the main entrance at the Joseph court leads to the three-nave interior, which is 43 meters long and 20 meters high. Directly connected to the main ship is a high choir of 40 meters long, 10 meters wide and 24 meters high.

Church vault and side chapels

Under the nave of the church is a crypt which served as grave as well as laying the Augustinians of the court nobility, to the public but is no longer accessible today. When the Imperial Crypt at the beginning of the 19th century was too small and the community of monks of the Capuchin was threatened with extinction, has been considered to relocate the burial place of the Habsburgs here, but it was ultimately not included.

To the church also include a sacristy, a chapel of St. George and a Loreto Chapel. In the chapel of St. George of the Augustinian church are the tombs of Leopold Graf Daun, Gerard van Swieten, and an empty, crafted by Franz Anton Zauner pomp sarcophagus of Emperor Leopold II.

Separated Behind the Loreto Chapel of St. Augustine's Church, and by it by an iron door, is located in a semi-circular mounting the known Herzgruft the Habsburgs. Therein the heart be kept by 54 Habsburgs in metal urns, who received a heart burial here.

Church Music

The Church of St. Augustine is famous for her church music. So a concert exhibition of renowned composers such as Mozart, Haydn and Schubert will be performed in the high office of every Sunday and public holiday. Choir and Orchestra of St Augustin are and have been directed by famous musicians. In February 2008, Robert Rieder took over the management of the orchestra and the choir, whose repertoire includes more than 60 trade shows.

Premieres (selection)

Franz Schubert, Mass in F major (1814, first performance in parish Lichtental )
Herwig Reiter, Fair of St. Augustine (2002)

Organs

In the Augustinian church there are two organs.

Main organ

The great organ was rebuilt in 1976 by the organ-building factory Rieger ( Schwarzach, Vorarlberg ). The historic housing dates from around 1730 and was home to the Second World War, an instrument that was built by Johann Hencke for the Black Spaniard Church, and was erected at the end of the 18th century in St. Augustine. The group of angels on the housing is from the Rococo sculptor Johann Baptist Straub.

The instrument has 47 stops on four manuals and pedal. As part of a major overhaul in 2002, the organ builder Eisenbarth ( Passau) equipped the instrument with a modern combination system.

Couplers: II / I, III / I, IV / III, I / P, II / P III / P
Accessories: 5000x electronic combination system, MIDI

Vienna Bach organ

The small organ was built in 1985 at the Festival in the jubilee year "300 years of Johann Sebastian Bach ." The instrument comes from the organ workshop of the brothers Reil ( flock / Netherlands) and was built in historical construction. The purely mechanical instrument has 25 stops on two manuals and pedal.

Accessories: Manual switching (sliding coupling )
Pedal coupler I / P
Tremulant for the entire organ

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