The Church That Came After the Fear

This church stands here because of a promise. During the plague of 1679, Leopold the First swore he would replace the old, crumbling little Peterskirche, and just under a quarter of a century later the first stone went into the ground.

 

That timing tells you a lot. For as long as an army could still appear at the gates, people in Vienna built carefully and close to the ground. After 1683 that threat was gone, and within a single generation the whole city was rebuilt with domes, frescoes, and palaces belonging to noble families who no longer needed to pour their money into walls.

 

The result stands here in its most compact form. The church is wedged so tightly between the blocks of houses that you can never step far enough back to take in the dome in one glance, which is exactly what a Baroque architect normally wants you to do.

 

According to tradition, this is the oldest church site in Vienna, founded by Charlemagne, and that story is carved in relief on the facade. What is certain is that a church already stood here when the city was still made of wooden houses, probably on the remains of a Roman building.

 

We turn right into the Jasomirgottstraße and come face to face with the tower that lived through the entire siege.