A broad baroque church giving its name to a whole district of Vienna, the Church of Mariahilf is one of the largest and best-loved places of worship outside the inner city. Built in stages from the late seventeenth century and completed in the early eighteenth, it served the growing suburb that spread along the road to the imperial summer palace at Schoenbrunn, and the surrounding quarter still bears its name. The church takes its title from a venerated image of the Virgin Mary, a copy of a famous Marian painting, and it became an important place of pilgrimage and devotion. Its twin-towered facade and spacious, richly decorated interior, with side chapels, altarpieces and a fine organ, are typical of the confident baroque architecture of the Counter-Reformation. In front of the church stands a monument to the composer Joseph Haydn, who is associated with the area, linking the building to the musical heritage for which Vienna is celebrated and giving the square before it a cultural as well as a religious significance. The church sits just off the Mariahilfer Strasse, one of the busiest shopping streets in the city, so it offers a quiet, contemplative refuge a few steps from the bustle of crowds and commerce. As a working parish church it remains in regular use for services and music, and its scale and decoration reward a pause for anyone passing along the shopping street or exploring the lively district around it. Its location, midway between the inner city and Schoenbrunn, makes it an easy stop on a walk or shopping trip through one of Vienna most popular neighbourhoods. The church is generally open to visitors outside service times, free of charge, and combines naturally with a stroll along the Mariahilfer Strasse and a visit to the nearby Haus des Meeres or the museums of the centre. The image of Mary that gives the church and the district their name reflects a devotion that spread widely across the Catholic lands of central Europe, and the church became a focus of that piety as the suburb grew around it. Its position on the pilgrimage and trade route between the city walls and the imperial palace at Schoenbrunn helped the surrounding quarter flourish, and the broad baroque building remains a calm anchor amid the shops and crowds of one of Vienna busiest neighbourhoods.

Type: Tourist Attraction

Address: Barnabitengasse 14, Vienna, Austria