Церква міноритів Church of the Minorites

Rating 8110

The history of the church began with foreigners - barefoot Franciscan brothers who came to Vienna from Italy in the early thirteenth century at the invitation of the Austrian Duke Leopold VI. It was founded in 1276 by a foreigner, the Czech Otakar II Przemysl. The church was built in the French style, and it belongs to the Italian Congregation from the end of the XVIII century, which gave it a second name - the Virgin Mary of the Snows.

Throughout the history of the church it has been rebuilt many times, giving the building features of different styles of architecture. The upper part of the octagonal tower was destroyed by the Turks during the siege of 1529 and rebuilt in the XVIII century. In the XIX century the original Gothic look of the building was completely reconstructed.

The portal above the entrance is divided into three parts, they are decorated with bas-reliefs of the crucifixion of Christ and images of saints. Inside the temple - three naves.
The interior was originally made in the Baroque style, but now only fragments of the former interior have survived: a fresco by Francis of Assisi, beautiful stained glass windows of the Order of Minorites, stucco ornaments and paintings on the main altar.

The main treasure of the church is a mosaic copy of the fresco of Leonardo da Vinci "The Last Supper". The mosaic was made by Giacomo Rafaelli in 1814 by order of Napoleon Bonaparte. However, the finished mosaic was bought not by a customer who had already been deprived of the throne, but by his father-in-law, the Austrian Emperor Franz I. The mosaic was donated to the church in 1845 by Franz I's successor, Emperor Ferdinand I. to place it in one of the church naves.