Neuottakringer Kirche

The Neuottakringer Kirche stands in Ottakring, the 16th district of Vienna, between Wattgasse, Degengasse, Rückertgasse and Arnethgasse at the Familienplatz. Built between 1894 and 1898 as a Roman Catholic parish church dedicated to the Holy Family, it was commissioned under Prince Aloys of Liechtenstein’s patronage. Emperor Franz Josef I laid the foundation stone in 1894 and returned four years later for its consecration by Auxiliary Bishop Johann Baptist Schneider. Funding came from the estate of Franziska Brussels and the Ottakring church-building association, led by Crown Prince Rudolf until his death. The church is a large three-aisled neo-Gothic building with twin towers reaching 68 metres. Inside, oak altarpieces carved by Franz Leimer rest on altars of Mannersdorf marble, and the high altar’s tabernacle is adorned with six ivory panels painted by Felix Jennewein and Ferdinand Andri. The main portal’s bronze relief of the Holy Family, by Josef Tautenhayn, symbolises generations of local families who worship here. The ironwork throughout was designed by Hans Petermair, who also directed the 1939–40 renovation. Visitors enter through the main portal to find a spacious nave with high vaulted ceilings. The present organ, built by Rieger in 1985 and expanded in 1989, stands in the chancel facing the congregation. Five bells hang in the towers, though only three remain from the original peal after the Second World War. The surrounding streets form a quiet residential quarter, with the church’s spires marking the centre of Ottakring.