Pfarrkirche Salzburg-St. Elisabeth

The European Peace Church of St Elisabeth stands in Salzburg’s Elisabeth-Vorstadt district, a quiet quarter north of the river. Built in 1939, it serves as a Catholic parish church dedicated to Saint Elisabeth of Thuringia. Beside it sits the Caspisschlössl, a 17th-century manor now used as the parish house. The church’s story begins with a 1931 wooden chapel that included a large cellar intended as a crypt. After wartime damage in 1944, the present basilica was completed between 1953 and 1955 under architect Bruno Maria Apollonj Ghetti. Funds came from donors across Austria, Germany and Switzerland, making it Austria’s first Pax Christi church. The plain interior, with its sweeping round arches and balcony, was designed for fine acoustics. Visitors enter a broad three-aisled nave lit by high clerestory windows. The unadorned walls focus attention on the altar area. Outside, the Plain Street is lined with wayside crosses leading pilgrims up to the Plainberg shrine. The Caspisschlössl houses a kindergarten beside the church, while the surrounding streets mark the parish’s boundaries along the Salzach and railway lines.