Ober St. Veiter Pfarrkirche, Parish church in Ober St. Veit, Hietzing, Austria.
Ober St. Veiter Pfarrkirche is a late-Baroque Catholic church on Wolfrathplatz in Hietzing, its core Gothic from its time as part of a fortified church, standing above remnants of a sloped Gothic rubble-stone retaining wall. It is joined on the northwest to the former archbishop's palace. The nave was rebuilt from 1742 to 1745 by Mathias Gerl, keeping the choir, tower and parts of the nave; the high altar of 1745 holds a painting of the martyrdom of St. Vitus by Fra Agostino a San Luca.
Ober St. Veiter Pfarrkirche was documented as a parish church in 1260 and 1298; its nave core is Gothic and once belonged to a fortified church. It passed to the Dompropstei St. Stephan in 1365 and to the Diocese of Vienna in 1480. Fire damaged it in 1529, it was restored in 1660 and damaged again in 1683. Mathias Gerl rebuilt it between 1742 and 1745 under Cardinal Sigismund von Kollonitz, keeping the choir, tower and parts of the nave.
The church's patronal feast honours "Maria, Zuflucht der Sünder und St. Veit", a double dedication that shapes local devotion. The high altar of 1745 carries a painting of the martyrdom of St. Veit by Fra Agostino a San Luca, while the side altars show the Assumption and the Glory of St. Joseph by Gaetano de Rosa, dated 1744.
The church stands on Wolfrathplatz in Ober St. Veit and is joined on its northwest side to the former archiepiscopal castle. The crypt beneath the choir, walled up in 1904, has been reachable again from the main aisle since the interior renovation around 2000. The 1994 baptismal chapel is entered both from the church interior and through a glazed link from the church entrance.
The crypt beneath the choir was walled up in 1904 and only reopened from the main aisle during the interior renovation around 2000. The 1994 baptismal chapel by architect Hermann Bauer has a stepped timber ceiling whose height-to-wall ratio follows the golden ratio, a floor of Greek marble, and an altar of Wachau marble carved with the twelve apostles by Peter Niedertscheider.
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