This Pure White Church in Salzburg is Amazing!
This Pure White Church in Salzburg is Amazing!
Architecture: All to the Glory of God!
I’ve been accused of overusing words like “exquisite” and “magnificent” and “astonishing” at times. That may be true, but in the case of the Collegiate Church of Salzburg, Austria, all those adjectives completely fit the bill.
This beautiful church was built between 1694 and 1707 at the behest of the Bishop of Salzburg, Johann Ernst von Thun, who wanted to make Salzburg into a Baroque city. The Baroque style in art, literature, and music flourished mainly in the 1600s in Europe, so Bishop Thun was a man of his times.
On December 8th, 1707, the city consecrated its precious new temple of our Lord Jesus Christ to the patronage of the Blessed Virgin Mary, under the title of the Immaculate Conception.
Now you can understand why the walls are perfectly white!
Here, the Baroque architecture itself is the artwork, although artists through the ages very effectively added splashes of color in certain aspects of the setting: high altar, side altars, floor, balcony railings, and organ. The church has a sort of modern “minimalist” feel to it.
Salzburg is also the birthplace of Mozart (1756-1791). An interesting fact: the Collegiate Church commissioned the 12-year-old Mozart in 1768 to compose the Missa Brevis in D Minor for the Church. Amazing!
But it’s not been all glory for this church. Napoleon dissolved the Salzburg University in 1803 and used this pristine church as a storage facility and a garrison for his troops. Imagine.
Today the church is both a center of university life and a parish church, and its pure white interior continues to enthrall worshippers with beauty and with the idea that purity is actually a virtue. Yes, imagine.
Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, pray for us!
[Photos Credits: Böhringer Friedrich (feature image and dome); Matthias Kabel (side altar/dome); and Karl Gruber (pulpit).]
