St. Othmar unter den Weißgerbern

St Othmar unter den Weißgerbern is a Roman Catholic parish church in Vienna’s third district, Landstraße. It stands on Kolonitzplatz in the Weißgerberviertel, a former tanners’ quarter beside an old arm of the Danube. Built between 1866 and 1873 in red brick, it replaced three smaller churches destroyed over the centuries. The architect was Friedrich von Schmidt, then Vienna’s master builder. The design is a three-aisled basilica with a crossing, ambulatory and chapels arranged in early-Gothic shapes. A tall tower rises at the south-east corner, while the choir faces north-west. The church’s history is tied to the growth of the suburb. In 1158 a village called Weihrochberg was recorded, its people working as white tanners. By the 17th century two chapels had been built, one donated by Emperor Leopold I and his bishop. Both were ruined during the Second Turkish Siege in 1683. A third church, the Margarethenkirche, stood from 1690 until 1875, when it was demolished for traffic. Some of its furnishings were moved to the new building. Inside, visitors find a spacious nave with pointed arcades and ribbed vaults. The high altar holds a painting transferred from the old Margarethenkirche. To the right of the main altar a secco mural recalls the burning of the Dreifaltigkeitskapelle in 1683. Outside, the Ida-Bohatta-Park surrounds the church, giving views over Kolonitzplatz. The tower once reached 80 metres, marking the new centre of the quarter.