Does Vienna have the most spectacular Baroque architecture?

Collegiate Church, Salzburg
begun in 1694, dedicated 1707

My family just returned from 2 wonderful months in Europe. When I asked them what their favourite city was, and would they write it up for me, they said “1. Vienna; 2. here are our super photos; 3. read TourMyCountry yourself”. Grrrrr

Johann Fischer von Erlach (1656-1725) was born in Graz. He was trained as a sculptor by his dad, artist Johann Bap­tist Fisch­er. Only after did he select architecture, travelling to Rome in 1670, where he was deeply impressed. He stayed in Rome for years and in 1684 mo­v­ed to Naples, continuing his work and studies. Two years later he re­turn­ed home where he was welcomed as one of the best archit­ects then, and one of the very few that were not Italian.

From 1690, he taught architecture to the Prince of Austria-later Emperor Joseph I, adapting Italian Baroque to local needs and traditions. He won great acclaim for 2 triumphal arches in Vienna to celeb­rate Jo­s­­eph I's coronation! Wise man! In 1693, von Er­l­ach tr­ansferred to Sal­z­burg to serve to the Prince Arch­bish­op. There he en­riched early Bar­oque Vienna with high buil­dings, especially with the Church of the Holy Trin­ity. von Erlach was appropriately knighted at court, in 1696.

Also note the very impres­s­ive Collegiate Church, a very import­ant baroq­ue church. It looked back on an exciting history as the Uni­ of Salz­burg’s church on University square, and gained a reput­ation in the City of Mozart as a venue for art and music. Still does.

In 1694, when he was ready to start work in Salz­burg, von Erlach became the Imperial Court Architect and Engineer.

His most productive and important years came when the final design of the Salz­burg churches was done, as well as the formalisation of Schön­b­runn Pal­ace design which was completed by 1711. This design of Schön­brunn is the one he was remembered for: it was to over­shadow Versailles near Paris and nearly did.    

Schönbrunn Pal­ace, Vienna

1696 

                                  
Interior, Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna
begun 1696

His most important buildings included the Imperial Stables-now Museums Quartier; Collegiate Church and Trinity Church, Salz­burg; winter Pal­ace of Prince Eugene/now Ministry of Finance; Böhmische Hofkanzlei on Juden­platz Square; Schloss Nied­er­weiden Lower Austria; and Karls­kirche Church.

von Erlach was rightly considered one of the 2 most important arch­it­ects of Aust­ria’s late Baroque age, along with Lucas von Hildebrandt (1668–1745). I will mention only two shared pieces of architecture:

a] Palais Schwarzenberg was started in Vienna in 1697 under von Hilde­br­andt. But sadly the prince owner died while the Palace was being built; it was bought in 1716 by Prince Adam Franz of Schwarzenberg who had it complet­ed in 1728 by von Erlach.

Palais Schwarzenberg, Vienna
finished 1728

b] The Hofburg was originally a medieval imperial palace. In 1700 Hild­ebrandt became Hofburg court engineer and finally in 1723, Hildebrandt became Hofburg Court archit­ect. But Hildebrandt struggled against the two von Erl­achs. Un­like the monum­ental works of Johann von Erlach, Hildebrandt’s works seemed more pers­on­al, and included more middle class decorative elem­ents. Hild­ebr­an­dt united Italian-French elements and shaped the baroque style in South Germany and Austria.

von Hildebrandt's and Johann Fischer von Erlach's parts of the Hofburg.

National Library, Hofburg, Vienna, 1722

Johann died in the city of his masterpieces, Vienna, in 1723. After­wards his son Joseph Emanuel Fischer von Erlach sup­ervised many of the proj­ects that dad had started, including the superb Karlskirche with its large cupola. The church was consecrated to the patron saint of the Habsburg emperor, Saint Charles Borromeo.

von Erlach, Karlskirche, Vienna

begun 1715

Joseph took over his father′s offices at court, although he faced opposition from the old rival Lucas von Hildebrandt. De­spite his ear­ly suc­cess, Joseph withdrew from arch­itecture and pursued another career.

** Baroque architecture of the 17th and 18th centuries used complex plan shapes, dynamic spaces, heightened feeling of motion and drama. So did it continue into the C19th? Yes!

Planning of Vien­na's Ringstrasse began in 1857, to unite and display the imperial collections in a grand new building. The Ringstrasse was 5.3 ks, long enough to provide space for many mon­umental buildings designed from 1860s-1890s eg Vienna State Opera.

 Kunsthistorische, Vienna

A competition was held to design Kunsthistorische/Museum of Fine Arts. The Viennese architects in 1867 were Hansen, Löhr, Ferstel and Hasenauer. When they failed to agree on a winner, famous architect known for museum designs Gottfried Semper was called in 1868 to advise. The Emperor commissioned Semper to enlarge and complete the plans init­ially presented by Hasenauer. Semper wanted to create an imperial Roman forum i.e he wanted symmetrical build­ings aligned with the two mus­eums, each of which enjoyed a semi-circular façade. These two build­ings were to flank the wing of the old palace erected for Emperor Leo­p­old. Work on the mus­eums ended in 1871 and opened to the public.

Semper’s façades featured a complex historical programme of scul­­­­­pt­ures. The internal building used two architectural traditions: the entrance hall and cupola hall that honoured the imper­ial patron and his line. More elegance came from the circular open­ing in the entrance hall ceiling, giving visit­ors a glimpse of the cupola hall, the apex of imp­er­ial disp­lay. And the rich marbles of the grand staircase glow with lus­­trous colour. Going up these stairs, visitors pass Antonio Canova’s Theseus Slaying the Centaur. A wealth of neo-baroque decorations created a most splendid interior of late-C19th Vienna.