St. Ursula's Church, Vienna, Baroque church in Innere Stadt, Austria
St. Ursula's Church is a Baroque Roman Catholic church at Seilerstätte 26 in Vienna's Innere Stadt, built as part of an Ursuline convent complex. Its interior, influenced by Italian Jesuit churches, has rich stucco work, side altars with paintings between Baroque and Neoclassicism, and a Holy Sepulchre chapel with an Entombment group. The high altarpiece depicts the death of Saint Ursula, attributed to Johann Spillenberger but possibly a copy by Johann Franz Greippel.
The Ursuline order arrived in Vienna in 1660 at the invitation of Empress Eleonore and opened a school. The monastery complex, including the church, was built between 1666 and 1745 under the Italian architect Anton Erhard Martinelli; the church was completed by 1745. The Ursulines ran the school until 1960, when they moved to Mauer in Liesing, and from 1963 to 1968 the complex was converted for the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna.
The church maintains connections with the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, serving regularly as a venue for concerts and musical performances by students and professionals.
St. Ursula's Church stands at Seilerstätte 26 in the 1st district, a short walk from the Graben and Stephansplatz. Since 1968 the building has belonged to the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, whose organ institute uses it for practice and performances; services are accompanied by the church music choir. Look for the memorial plaque to Klemens Maria Hofbauer on the exterior wall.
The high altarpiece showing the death of Saint Ursula is attributed to Johann Spillenberger (1628–1679), though it may be a copy by the Czech painter Johann Franz Greippel (1720–1798). The church also holds a Holy Sepulchre chapel with a group depicting the entombment.
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