Karlskirche

The St. Charles Church in Vienna (better known here as Karlkirche) is said to be one of the most outstanding baroque church structures in the world.

The construction of the building began in 1716 and took 21 years to finish. After the death of the primary architect, J.B. Fischer, his son completed everything using partially altered plans. The ambitious design of the Karlkirche combines architectural elements from three different cultures. There are elements from ancient Greece (the columned portico), ancient Rome (the two Trajanesque columns) and contemporary Viennese Baroque (the dome). This is the reason the design of the church is always regarded as something of an architectural curiosity and was never imitated by any other architect.

The interior of the church is much more conventional than the exterior, but is still impressive, with High Baroque decoration. The vault frescoes depict St. Charles Borromeo begging the Holy Trinity to end the plague in Vienna. The large round glass window high above the main altar symbolizes God's love and absolution.

The green copper dome of Karlskirche rises 72 meters high and a special lift in the church can take you to the very top. I don't like such improvements, since I prefer old buildings to keep their original appeal, but I guess building an elevator was the only way for people to have a close look at the beautiful ceiling paintings. The depiction of the little children looking at the grey bird is actually the highest painting, just at the center of the dome.