St. Michael's Church

Our last visit to a church in Vienna is a special one. St. Michael's is another baroque masterpiece. While not as over-the-top ornate as the Jesuit church you've already seen, it does contain many amazing sights. And, as you will discover, sounds.

The image above shows the main altar. From Wikipedia we learn that,

The high altar was designed in 1782 by Jean-Baptiste d’Avrange. It is decorated with the monumental stucco alabaster Rococo sculpture Fall of the Angels (1782) by sculptor Karl Georg Merville. It represents a cloudburst of angels and cherubs, falling from the ceiling towards the ground. It was the last major Baroque work completed in Vienna. The centerpiece of the high altar is Maria Candia, a Byzantine icon of the Virgin Mary, belonging to the Cretan School of hagiography and named after the former capital (now Heraklion), displayed as being carried by two archangels.^[2][3]

Perhaps the most striking thing to notice in this church is the use of plain white statuary to contrast with the gilt ornamentation. It creates a quite striking effect.

This contrast is readily apparent in this side chapel where the ceiling is a highly figured white surface that, once seen, is quite attention grabbing. It and the white walls also make the marble and gold of the altar stand out.

There are memorials here that eschew extravagance and simply recognize the fallen.

Some memorials/crypts are found in the floor.

Even though the ceiling is not painted with vast depictions of biblical and spiritual significance, it is an impressive span of gothic architecure.

The real star of the visit is the pipe organ.

The gilded pipe organ (1714) by Johann David Sieber is the largest Baroque organ in Vienna. It was once played by the 17-year-old Joseph Haydn in 1749. Mozart's Requiem was performed for the first time in this church at a memorial service for the composer on 10 December 1791. As Mozart hadn't finished this work at the time of his death, only the existing part was performed. One of those who attended the "festive funerary honors" was theater director Emanuel Schikaneder whose libretto was used by Mozart for The Magic Flute.

But all is not filled with the contrast of expanses of white and marble. Here's the gold dominates and the white stands out as special.