| Peterskirche - St Peter's Church (picture by Peter Watts) |  |
Peterskirche - St Peter's Church
Peterskirche - St Peter's Church
Peterskirche is one of the best Baroque churches in Vienna. It was built between 1701 and 1733 on a design inspired by St. Peter's Basilica in Rome and was the first domed structure in Vienna. Peterskirche stands in a very compact area, yet the interior holds 6 side chapels on top of the high altar, which was made by Antonio Galli Bibiena. The altarpiece portrays the Healing of the Lame by St. Peter and St. John in Jerusalem by Martino Altomonte, who also also painted the altarpiece in the side chapel of the Holy Family.The shrines in the side chapels of the Holy Family and St. Michael contain the remains of martyrs taken from the Roman catacomb and donated to Peterskirche Cardinal Kollonitz in 1733. The bodies have been dressed in period costume and lie on view in glass coffins.
The pulpit is highly ornate and gilded, the work of Matthias Steinl (1726). The canopy over the pulpit represents the Holy Trinity. On the opposite side of the aisle is a gold and silver sculpted by Lorenzo Mattielli representing the Martyrdom of St. John of Nepomuk with a figure of Mary above it. The fresco in the dome is by Johann Michael Rottmayr and depicts the Assumption of the Virgin Mary.
Peterskirche recently underwent some restoration work which has restored much of the colour to both the interior of the church and the luster of the paintings. The Pestsäule in Graben is just around the corner.
Address:
Peterskirche
Petersplatz
1010 Wien
Austria
www.peterskirche.at
Tansport:
U-Bhan: Stephansplatz (U1, U3)
Bus / Tram : 1A, 2A, 3A
