Stadtpfarrkirche

The city parish church of Linz stands on the main square, a three-aisled Baroque building that grew from a 13th-century Romanesque single nave. Its choir and tower were added in the 15th century, then the whole church was rebuilt in the 17th century. The axes of the original layout were set in 1207 using Klafter measures, with the nave aligned to sunrise on Good Friday and the choir to Easter Sunday. The church holds the heart and entrails of Emperor Frederick III, buried here in 1493. A red marble tombstone marks the spot. In 1521 the future Emperor Ferdinand I married Anna of Bohemia and Hungary inside, linking the Habsburg line to the Danube monarchy. The interior shows late Baroque ceiling paintings by Bartolomeo Altomonte and altarpieces by Johann Carl von Reslfeld and Joachim Sandrart. A marble niche on the apse, designed by Johann Lucas von Hildebrandt, holds a statue by Georg Raphael Donner. Visitors enter through the main portal where a stone commemorates Anton Bruckner’s years as organist. Inside, the high altar rises beneath a vast ceiling fresco. Side chapels contain works by Altomonte and a copy of a 17th-century Linz view. The organ, rebuilt in 2002, preserves historic pipes in a heritage-listed case. Outside, the square still shows the 17th-century bell that once rang from the tower.