Karmeliterkirche Sankt Josef (Linz)

The Karmelitenkirche stands beside the Ursulinenkirche on Linz’s Landstraße. Built for the Carmelite friars who arrived from Vienna in 1671, it replaced an earlier wooden chapel finished in 1675. The present stone church took twenty years to complete after the foundation stone was laid by Landeshauptmann Franz Joseph von Lamberg in 1690. Its design follows the Josefskirche in Vienna, and a second phase of building added the richly decorated façade between 1720 and 1726. The church is recognised for its Baroque interior. Diego Francesco Carlone and Paolo d’Allio carved the elaborate stucco that covers walls and vaults. At the main door two statues of Saint Theresia and Saint Johannes flank the entrance, while above them a giant figure of Saint Josef fills the pediment. The high altar painting of the Holy Family is by Martino Altomonte, and the side altars carry delicate stucco figures by Diego Carlone. Beneath the music gallery lie chapels enclosed by wrought-iron grilles, and on the altar table rests the glass coffin of Saint Felix. Visitors enter through the west front designed by Johann Raas and later refined by Martin Witwer and Johann Michael Prunner. Inside, the 1714 pulpit rises richly carved beside confessionals of 1711. The organ, rebuilt several times since 1713, now contains twenty-eight stops on two manuals and pedal. The church also witnessed the Beichtstuhl-Affäre of 1871 and the execution of Pfarrer Paulus Wörndl in 1944 for high treason.