Architecture
Karlskirche
Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach, 1716-1737
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Baroque · chronological order 6
A Baroque church built in Vienna by Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach between 1716 and 1737, and finished by his son Joseph Emanuel. It came out of a vow: Emperor Charles VI promised to raise it if the city escaped the plague of 1713. The parts do not obviously belong together and it puts them side by side anyway, an Italian oval dome, a Roman classical portico and two commemorative columns modelled on Trajan’s, carved with reliefs telling the life of Saint Charles Borromeo, patron saint of plague victims.