Church of the Teutonic Order: Mother Church of the Teutonic Order in Vienna
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.6
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- Austria
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Early Modern, Modern
- Civilizations
- Crusader, Duchy of Austria, Habsburg, Holy Roman Empire, Teutonic Order
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Church
On this page11 sections
History
The Church of the Teutonic Order is a Roman Catholic church in Vienna, Austria, serving as the mother church of the Teutonic Order and the current seat of its Grand Master. Dedicated to Saint Elisabeth of Hungary, also known as Elisabeth of Thuringia, the present Gothic church was built between 1326 and 1375 and consecrated in 1395. It forms part of the Deutschordenshaus, the Teutonic Order’s residence complex near St. Stephen’s Cathedral, and belongs to the Bailiwick of Austria and South Tyrol within the parish of St. Stephen’s Cathedral.
Medieval foundation and rebuilding
A church already stood on the site by the thirteenth century. City fires largely destroyed that earlier building, leaving only its tower. The replacement church was erected during the fourteenth century in the Gothic style, a medieval architectural tradition marked here by pointed arches and ribbed vaulting.
Baroque and Neo-Gothic transformations
The interior was remodelled in the Baroque period, probably in 1720, when Guido von Starhemberg was commander of the Order. The project is attributed to Anton Erhard Martinelli. Decorative stucco work had begun with Simone Allio in 1697 and continued under Girolamo Alfieri in 1700. Alfieri returned between 1720 and 1725, working with the sculptor Giovanni Antonio Canevale.
Between 1864 and 1868, the church underwent a Neo-Gothic remodelling, a nineteenth-century revival of medieval Gothic forms. In 1945, bombing caused serious damage, and the church was restored in 1946 and 1947. In 1922, the Knights of the Order of the Golden Fleece, a prestigious chivalric order founded in the fifteenth century, held a requiem service here for Charles I, the last Habsburg ruler of Austria-Hungary.
The Teutonic Order and its treasury
The Teutonic Order is a German-based Roman Catholic religious order founded at the end of the twelfth century. Its functions combined religious life with charitable and military activity. The church belongs to the Order of the Hospital of Saint Mary of the Germans in Jerusalem and remains connected with its administrative structure through the Austrian and South Tyrolean bailiwick, a territorial district overseen by an official known as a bailiff.
The Treasure Room forms part of the Order’s complex. Successive Grand Masters assembled its collections over eight centuries, creating one of Vienna’s oldest treasury collections and a group representing the Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque periods. The treasury became a distinct collection in 1525, when Grand Master Albert of Prussia adopted Lutheranism and declared the holdings his private property. After extensive renovation, the museum reopened on 22 April 2006. The church is protected as an Austrian architectural heritage site.
Remains
Church building and interior
The church is approximately 25 metres long and 10 metres wide, with a stated capacity of about 150 people. Its façade faces south-southwest. The original rectangular plan was altered during the Baroque remodelling, which gave the interior an elongated oval form. Four large windows occupy the south side. A ribbed vault covers the nave, while pointed-arch windows preserve visible elements of the building’s medieval Gothic fabric.
More than eighty armorial shields of Teutonic Knights cover the walls. They reflect the custom by which a knight displayed his coat of arms in the church where he received his noble title. The interior also contains commemorative stones and tombs connected with members and officers of the Order.
Main altar
The main altar is a winged polychrome altarpiece, meaning an altar ensemble with hinged panels covered in multiple colors. It was made in Mechelen in 1520 for Saint Mary’s Church in Gdańsk and transferred to the Teutonic Order church in Vienna in 1864. The woodcarver and painter are unknown, while Jan van Wavere of Mechelen made and signed the polychromy. Carved scenes from the Passion and other episodes from Christ’s life fill the altarpiece, alongside figures of Saint John the Baptist, Saint Agnes, and Saint Anne. These three saints represent the patrons of Johannes Cuspinian, the altar’s donor, and his two wives.
The high-altar painting by Tobias Pock, dated 1667, shows the Virgin Mary and the infant Jesus crowning Saint Elisabeth. Saint George and Saint Helena stand beside them. Above the central scene, God the Father and the Holy Spirit appear with angels.
Memorials and tombs
The memorials include the tombstone of Count Siegfried Sarau, whose relief was made by Giovanni Stanetti, and the 1524 tombstone of bailiff Jobst von Wetzhausen, made by Loy Hering. Other prominent tombs commemorate Erasmus Count Starhemberg, Guido von Starhemberg, and Johann Philipp Harrach.
Treasure Room
The Treasure Room, or Schatzkammer, occupies five rooms on the second floor beside the cobbled inner courtyard. Its contents range from religious and dynastic objects to weapons and works of art, preserving material associated with the Order’s long institutional history.
Coins, vessels, and ceremonial objects
The first room contains Gothic coins, medals, seals, crosses, and a thirteenth-century coronation ring. The second holds chalices with silver filigree, a red-coral salt-cellar tree hung with sharks’ teeth, and coconut-shell vessels with silver mountings. Among the latter are one vessel from Goa and another in a Chinese-inspired decorative style. A silver sword chain from around 1500 bears a pendant of the Madonna and Child together with the insignia of the Order. A table clock is decorated with garnets, turquoise, and a garland of gilded leaves.
Arms, documents, and artworks
Other rooms contain oriental arms, including a Sumatran kris, a Southeast Asian dagger with a wavy blade and a rhinoceros-horn handle carved in the form of Buddha and set with precious stones. The treasury also preserves a 1235 charter of Pope Gregory IX declaring Elisabeth of Thuringia a saint, several Gothic paintings, and a Carinthian woodcarving of Saint George and the Dragon.
