Stiftskirche Klosterneuburg

The Stiftskirche Klosterneuburg stands in the town of Klosterneuburg in Lower Austria. It began as a three-aisled Romanesque basilica with a transept and crossing tower in the 12th century under Margrave Leopold III. The church was later enlarged with Gothic additions and transformed in the 17th century into a Baroque hall church with side chapels. Its interior preserves a remarkable sequence of styles from Romanesque to Late Baroque, making it an important monument for art history. The church holds several notable works. Nikolaus of Verdun created the Verdun Altar around 1170–1181, a masterpiece of enamel with 45 panels, later extended after a fire in 1330. In 1683 the painter Johann Georg Greiner depicted the Virgin Mary protecting Klosterneuburg during the Turkish siege in a large fresco. The high altar, designed by Matthias Steinl and completed by Donato Felice d’Allio, features a marble structure and paintings by Johann Georg Schmidt and Johann Michael Rottmayr. Inside, visitors find a richly decorated space. The Baroque high altar dominates the raised choir, framed by Stuck reliefs and a vast fresco of the Assumption. The Kaiseroratorium, a glazed gallery above the stalls, was reserved for Habsburg rulers. The side chapels and the transept vaults display frescoes and stucco from different phases of the church’s long history. Outside, the towers show the building’s layered past, from Romanesque cores to Baroque domes and 19th-century restorations.