St. Charles Church Vienna
one of viennas most famous sights
- Sprache
In 1713, one year after the last great plague epidemic, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, pledged to build a church for his namesake patron saint, Charles Borromeo, who was revered as a healer for plague sufferers.
An architectural competition was announced, in which Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach prevailed over, among others, Ferdinando Galli-Bibiena and Johann Lukas von Hildebrandt.
The construction began in 1716. After J.B. Fischer‘s death in 1723, his son, Joseph Emanuel Fischer von Erlach, completed the construction in 1737 using partially altered plans.
The church originally possessed a direct line of sight to the Hofburg and was also, until 1918, the imperial patron parish church.