Fischer von Erlach
1 Feb 2024 - 28 Apr 2024

St Charles' Church is considered the most important Baroque building in Austria and is a landmark of Vienna. Its architect Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach (1656-1723) is at the centre of the first special exhibition in the newly opened Wien Museum. Almost 70 years after the last major exhibition, Fischer's work will be re-examined and placed in a contemporary artistic context with the design by Werner Feiersinger.

Fischer's work as an architect ranges from garden and city palaces for the Viennese nobility to church buildings for the Archbishop of Salzburg and the great imperial monuments in Vienna. His buildings referenced antiquity and yet were unmistakably modern - thus catering to contemporary ideas of stately representation, for which tradition and history played a central role.

In 1721, Fischer published "Entwurff Einer Historischen Architectur", the first world history of architecture in pictures. The work, which ranges from the wonders of the ancient world to Greek, Roman, Arabic, Persian and Chinese monuments to his own buildings and projects, made Fischer famous throughout Europe.

The exhibition is on display at the Wien Museum from 1 February to 28 April 2024

Photo: Wien Museum