Heiligenstadt Parish Church St. Michael

The Heiligenstadt parish church of St. Michael is a Roman Catholic parish church in the Holy City district of Vienna's 19th district Dobling. It is dedicated to St. Michael.

History

For centuries the Parish of St. Michael the Heiligenstadt was a major parish now in the district area. The church was first mentioned already in 1243 as a branch church of the monastery of Klosterneuburg, in the 14th century it became a parish church. But the parish was not only the Holy City, but also the surrounding villages Nussdorf, Grinzing, Sievering, Salmannsdorf, Neustift am Walde, Oberdöbling and Unterdöbling. The pastor of the church were in turn supplied it from the pin, care for its members numerous parishes in the district today. Since the faithful from the surrounding communities had to be co-supervised, Holy City also received a relatively large village church. But gradually got more and more of the surrounding villages the parish law, so that the importance Heiligenstadt declined slowly. Through the establishment of the parish Sievering Holy city lost in 1348 large parts of the western parish area, as well Salmannsdorf and Neustift am Walde fell to the newly formed parish. Also Dobling, which later fell to the parish Waehring, soon became independent. The neighboring towns Nußdorf and Grinzing, however, remained to the parish reform of Joseph II in the Holy City.

The Gothic parish church had after the destruction by the Turkish wars be repaired, in 1723 it was remodeled Baroque. End of the 19th century, however, it was so dilapidated that it had to be demolished 1894-1898 to the choir and the ground. For the new building, which resembles the old building to the tower, Richard Jordan was responsible, who also built the neighboring Carmelite Monastery Dobling. Furthermore, were involved in the new Joseph and Martin Schömer.

Building

In the present parish church Holy City is a neo-Gothic church season. Inside the choir preserved Gothic striking. He is not in a straight line to the main ship, but slightly offset. In addition, it runs at a slight angle. The cause of this fact, either the soil or the symbolism for the slightly oblique inclined main Jesus after Kreuzigungstod are suspected. The high altar, which designed the aforementioned architects, shows in the middle of the patron saint of the parish, one also derived by the architects of neo-Gothic side altar, the Holy Mary. From the Baroque reconstruction of the church, only that side altar has been preserved, which is dedicated to Saint Sebastian. The original high altar of Matthias Steindl was handed over to the parish Leopoldau, the high altar painting by Johann Georg Schmidt emigrated, however, in the museum of the monastery of Klosterneuburg. The Way of the Cross of the Church is still more recent. It was designed in 1930/31 by Franz Zelezny. The main characters of the Passion of Christ were carried out here with the faces of celebrities (such as Chancellor Seipel ) and residents of the Holy City.