Priesterseminarkirche

The Priesterseminarkirche stands beside the Harrachstraße in Linz, a small Catholic church built as a house chapel for the German Order’s Linz commandery. Its neighbour is the former Freihaus of the Teutonic Knights, now part of the Catholic Private University. The building group occupies a quiet corner of the city centre, close to the Danube. The church is worth the journey because it shows how a noble foundation turned into a seminary. Archbishop Johann Ernst von Thun gave 30,000 gulden for a Linz branch of the Order, and his successor Franz Anton von Harrach bought the site in 1711. The plans came from Johann Lucas von Hildebrandt, while Johann Michael Prunner supervised construction. The roof was raised in 1718, the vaults closed in 1720, and the tower cross was set in 1721. Bishop Joseph Dominikus von Lamberg consecrated the finished church on 3 June 1725. Inside, the oval nave is covered by a flat dome with eight lunettes. Paolo d’Allio’s stucco frames the ceiling, while Martino Altomonte’s altarpiece shows the Crucifixion. The marble high altar was designed by Hildebrandt, and Josef Kracker carved the allegories of the Order’s virtues on the tower. Side altars hold Johann Georg Schmidt’s oval paintings of the deaths of Saint Joseph and Saint John. The bells were cast by Silvius Creuz in 1724. Today the church serves both the diocesan seminary and the Romanian Orthodox community.