Johann Nepomuk Church

The Johann-Nepomuk-Kirche stands in Vienna’s second district, the Leopoldstadt, facing the busy Praterstraße. Its main front sits between Nepomukgasse and Rotensterngasse, with steps leading down to the Nestroyplatz underground station. The church is a protected monument and belongs to the Roman Catholic deanery of Vienna City. It is dedicated to Saint John of Nepomuk, the Bohemian martyr whose statue often appears above its three portals. The building replaced an earlier wooden chapel built after a local Madonna image survived a fire and a storm unharmed. The church’s history began in 1729 when a copy of the Maria Pötsch icon survived a blaze in Jägerzeile. After surviving a violent storm in 1734, the picture was credited with protecting the district from plague. A stone chapel rose in 1736, but by 1780 it had become a traffic hazard and was rebuilt by Franz Duschinger. The present structure dates from 1841–46 and was designed by Carl Rösner, who created a broad, block-like façade crowned by a tall spire. Bomb damage in 1945 was repaired, leaving the exterior largely unchanged. Inside, the three-aisled nave rises under ribbed vaults in early historicist style. The high altar of marble holds the original Madonna image that started the devotion. Above it, a fresco by Leopold Kupelwieser shows Saint John ascending to heaven, while the transepts display works by Leopold Schulz. A Cranach-inspired Mariahilf picture hangs on the left wall, and Joseph Führich’s fourteen-part Stations of the Cross line the side walls. The organ case, rescued from Krems an der Donau, completes the interior, its mechanical action still in use.