Tourist attractions in Vienna : Kirche am Steinhof

Kirche am Steinhof, also called the Church of St. Leopold, is the Roman Catholic oratory designed by Otto Wagner in Art Nouveau style. It situated in the grounds of the Psychiatric Hospital of the City of Vienna. With 310 meters (1,020 ft) above sea level, Kirche am Steinhof is located on a hillside (the Baumgartnerhöhe) in the 14th district of Penzing on the very outskirts of the city. 

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The most striking feature of the exterior part is the golden dome, which was covered with two kilograms of gold plate over the copper roof as part of a structural renovation in 2006. It can be seen from afar and the reflections of the sun off the roof have given rise to the Viennese nickname for the hill on which it stands: the Limoniberg, or "lemon mountain".

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The church dedicated to Saint Leopold was built between 1903 and 1907 by the 63-year-old architect and member of the Vienna Secessionists, Otto Wagner, with mosaics and stained glass by Koloman Moser, and sculptural angels by Othmar Schimkowitz. The great majority of the other smaller details are the work of Otto Wagner himself. The statues on the two external towers represent Saint Leopold and Saint Severin (two patron saints of Lower Austria) and are the work of the Viennese sculptor Richard Luksch.

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The dome of the church is not visible from inside the building; even so, the nave has an echo of six seconds. The magnificent windows at the sides of the Kirche am Steinhof portray seven saints (named underneath each frame) fulfilling Christ's commands both temporal (feed the hungry, clothe the naked, etc.) and spiritual; with above them a pair of flying angels and a quotation from the Beatitudes. The elaborate and brightly colored mosaic behind the ornate altar represents the reception of the departed soul into heaven.

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Otto Wagner incorporated numerous construction techniques and combined them with the necessities of an asylum: for example the seating are designed so that there were no sharp edges and most corners are rounded, the priest's area is potentially entirely separate from the patients', access to the pulpit is only from the vestry, emergency exits are built into the side walls in case a patient needed to be speedily removed, continuously flowing water replaced holy water stoups at the entrance and there were separate entrances for male and female patients. There were also toilet facilities easily accessible within the church in case of patient need and a medical room is provided within the church.

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The church, which seats 800 people when full, was reopened on the 1 October 2006, after the completion of the most recent extensive renovation work. The church is normally closed to visitors apart from regular services or during special guided tours.


Text Sources: wikipedia.org  and  viennadirect.com