Karlskirche

Karlskirche is the strangest of Vienna's great churches: a Greek portico, a green dome, and two free-standing columns wound with carved reliefs, borrowed from Roman models and set either side of the door. Fischer von Erlach designed it after Charles VI vowed a church during the plague of 1713, and his son finished the work. Inside, the dome carries a large fresco by Johann Michael Rottmayr, and the interior is lighter and plainer than the front leads you to expect. A reflecting pool on the square outside gives the view most people photograph, with a modern sculpture sitting in the water.

History

In 1713, a year after the last great plague in Vienna, Emperor Charles VI vowed to build a church to his patron saint, Charles Borromeo, revered as a healer of plague victims. Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach won the competition against Ferdinando Galli-Bibiena and Johann Lukas von Hildebrandt, building began in 1716 under Anton Erhard Martinelli, and after Fischer's death in 1723 his son Joseph Emanuel finished the church in 1737, changing the plans; it once had a direct view to the Hofburg and was the imperial patronage church until 1918 (Wikipedia, Karlskirche).

What you'll find

• The twin columns - the spiral carved reliefs on the pair of columns flanking the portico.
• The dome fresco - Rottmayr's painted cupola, best seen from as far under it as you can stand.
• The portico - the classical front that makes the church look like nothing else in the city.
• The pool on Karlsplatz - the reflecting basin outside, with the dome mirrored in still weather.

When to go

Open daily, with visiting suspended during services. A lift has at times been installed inside the dome during restoration, taking visitors close to the fresco; check whether it is running before buying a ticket for that reason alone. Evening concerts are held in the nave. Late afternoon light suits the facade and the pool.

Good to know

Entry is charged and the price is high for a parish church, with a small museum section that adds little. Scaffolding has been part of the building's look on and off for years. The square outside is a traffic and transport interchange, so the setting is noisy. Concert touts work the steps through the season.

Nearby

The Naschmarkt, the Secession building and the Ringstrasse museums are all within ten minutes.

Key facts