Erdberger Pfarrkirche

The Pfarrkirche Erdberg stands on a gentle rise where Erdbergstraße meets Apostelgasse in Vienna’s third district. Built between 1700 and 1733 in a restrained baroque-classicist style, it is dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul. The church replaced a small chapel first recorded in 1333 and rebuilt after the 1683 Turkish siege. Its exterior shows a plain cube of masonry topped by a low tower and a softly curved baroque apse. Two tall stone figures of Peter and Paul flank the nine-step stair to the main door. The interior divides the nave into two bays by massive paired piers, with side spaces rising to balconies. Above, a plain barrel vault covers both nave and choir. Inside, the high altar holds a silver-crowned image copied from the Capuchin church’s Madonna. A sweeping 1810 painting by Georg Schelling shows Peter and Paul taking leave. Two side altars in the choir, dating from about 1730, frame late-baroque scenes of the Immaculate Conception and the Sacred Heart. In the side aisles, painted wooden crucifixes stand on simple wooden altars, completing the calm, ordered atmosphere.