Michaelerkirche, Vienna

Michaelerkirche is the church before you, dedicated to the Archangel Michael and counted among Vienna’s oldest surviving churches. Its story reaches back to construction begun between 1219 and 1221, and the building remains an uncommon Romanesque survivor in Vienna, despite later alterations in Baroque and Neoclassical forms. Look at the entrance ensemble: the sculpted archangel defeats Lucifer above the doorway, a work created by Lorenzo Mattielli in 1725.

The present façade took shape in 1792 under Ernest Koch. Inside, the high altar brings together a Marian icon with a dramatic alabaster scene of angels plunging downward; the altar dates from 1782, and Karl Georg Merville made the sculpture. The church also preserves a remarkable musical story: its Baroque organ, made by Johann David Sieber in 1714, was played by the young Joseph Haydn in 1749.

Mozart’s Requiem received its inaugural performance here at a memorial service on 10 December 1791, using only the portion completed at Mozart’s death. Beneath the church lies the Michaelergruft, famous for bodies preserved by its stable climate. More than 4000 corpses remained well preserved there, including the opera librettist Pietro Metastasio.