Annagasse 3b
Tel. 512 4797
Subway: Stephansplatz
Open: 7am- 7pm daily
Adress: Kärntner Straße 37
Annakirche is a church dedicated to Saint Anna. It was constructed in 1629- 1634 on a site of a medieval chapel that dates back to 1320. Ceilings are covered by somewhat faded frescoes of Daniel Gran. It is considered one of the most beautiful Baroque churches in the city. Next to the church is the St. Annahof, a well-known residential building. After the St. Anna Church in 1750 the Annagasse street was named, which was formerly Pippingerstraße (Philip's street). This street was first documented in 1290.
In 1415 Elisabeth Wartenauer bought the land where
small buildings stood on. With a foundation in
1418 a pilgrim house was built there and on the Annagasse 3a a
pilgrims' hospital was built. A century later, in Annagasse 3b, the
Annakirche was built as a late Gothic four-aisled hall church with
buttresses and a ridge above the west gable and inaugurated in 1518.
In 1531, the buildings were handed over to the Order of Clarissas,
as a substitute for their task of the monastery of St. Clara on
Albertinaplatz. In 1582, the buildings of Rudolf II were handed over
to the Jesuits, who built a new Jesuit novitiate from 1627 to 1629
on the Kärntner Straße 37 corner of Annagasse 3 and 3a and
Johannesgasse 4 and 4a. From 1629 to 1633, an early baroque
reconstruction of the Annakirche took place, whereby the Gothic
choir, the roof ridge and the vaults were broken off, and the hall
was extended by two yokes in the building of the novitiate to the
west. In addition, chapel installations between the buttresses, a
new vaulting of the hall construction and the erection of a church
tower in the east of the choir with a residential building in the
lower floors. On November 20, 1633, the enlarged church was
inaugurated in the presence of Emperor Ferdinand II.
In 1694
Leopold I founded a brotherhood of St. Anna, which met in the hall
church as an annex in 1696. A high-Baroque chapel of St. Franz Xaver
was built, which was established in 1709, and is now named
Annakapelle. In 1716, under the direction of Christoph Tausch SJ
(1673-1731), the whole church was refitted. On June 25, 1747
Annakirche burned from a lightning hitting the tower and the roof of
the church. The vaults were preserved, the roof was restored, and so
it was in the same year on July 26, the Annafest celebrated in the
presence of Empress Maria Theresa in the church. In 1748, the church
tower was rebuilt and in 1751 the smoke-blackened church interior
was renovated, with Le Grand, as Daniel Gran was then called,
creating the late-Baroque ceiling frescoes and the high altarpiece.
In 1840 Grans frescoes were renewed by Franz Geyling in darker
colors.
In 1773 the Jesuit order was abolished. The
Annakirche was now cared for by secular clergymen and from 1783 on,
masses were held in French. In 1774, the novitiate was rededicated
to a school building, and was the seat of the Academy of Fine Arts
from 1786 to 1876. In 1887, again, the entire building complex
of St. Annhof was demolished including the two yokes of the former
extension of Annakirche. The new building has since then various
event and business premises.
In 1897, the Order of the
Oblates of St. Franz von Sales took over the services in the
Annakirche and 1906, the Oblates got the property rights.