![\"Karlskirche](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/628\/2016\/08\/800px-Karlskirche_Vienna_Front.jpg\")
The first is the Karlskirche, or Charles\u2019\u00a0Church. Charles VI, the Holy Roman Emperor, pledged to build this\u00a0church in 1713 after the ending of a plague epidemic in Vienna. He\u00a0named the structure after St. Charles Borromeo, a saint who watched over plague victims. Constructed between 1716 and 1737, it\u2019s one of the city\u2019s landmark\u00a0buildings, an exemplar of Baroque architecture.<\/p>\n
It has\u00a0some unusual elements for a Baroque church, however, as you can see in the picture above. Its portico resembles a Greco-Roman temple, for example, and its two tall columns are modeled after\u00a0ones built in Rome to honor the\u00a0Emperor Trajan (for some inexplicable reason they\u2019re topped by Asian-style pagodas). The architects of Karlskirche were not fans of\u00a0minimalism.<\/p>\n
To be honest, I\u2019m not a huge\u00a0fan of Baroque architecture. Those of us who like to hang around churches all have our favorite styles\u2013Gothic, Romanesque, or Byzantine, perhaps, or even those Scandinavian churches that look like Viking long boats. I\u2019d always considered Baroque in\u00a0my second tier of church styles.<\/p>\n
But after touring Karlskirche, I\u2019m reconsidering. After being in that luminous sanctuary, I can see why the interior of this\u00a0church has been called one of the greatest religious spaces in the world. It\u2019s gloriously over-the-top, filled with marble\u00a0and\u00a0gold, with sunlight streaming in from windows in its dome. I kept\u00a0expecting to see angels fluttering around inside like pigeons trying to find their way out of garage they\u2019ve flown\u00a0into.<\/p>\n If the goal of Baroque architecture\u00a0is\u00a0to dazzle, then in Karlskirche the mission is accomplished.<\/p>\n I also had a laugh-out-loud moment in Karlskirche\u00a0that drew glances from my fellow\u00a0tourists. We had taken\u00a0a little elevator to the top of the church, the better to see the frescoes that adorn the interior of its dome. In the midst of all\u00a0the usual angels, cherubs, saints, apostles, and members of the Holy Family was this image:<\/p>\n There\u2019s Martin Luther, founder of my home denomination of the Lutherans, being banished from heaven. An avenging angel is setting his books on fire and there\u2019s a nasty looking demon being sent to Hell as well (pretty clearly he and Martin are best friends). I\u2019m not sure who\u00a0the woman with the\u00a0mask is, but she\u2019s certainly\u00a0up to no good.\u00a0Don\u2019t you just love it when church politics get immortalized\u00a0in high art?\u00a0I know it\u2019s\u00a0mean-spirited, but it\u2019s also quite funny.<\/p>\n OK, here\u2019s another fresco, just to show you an example of the\u00a0non-snarky pictures there. There were a lot<\/em> of happy angels in this church.<\/p>\n But of all the churches we visited in Vienna, my favorite was the Griechische Kirche, also known as the\u00a0Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church. Built in the 19th century\u00a0in a Byzantine Revival design, its sanctuary is small and intimate. Glorious icons fill\u00a0almost every inch of its walls.<\/p>\n Part of what I loved about this church is that it isn\u2019t heavily visited, so we had it to ourselves except for a caretaker who sat near the door. She welcomed us warmly and said that we were welcome to stay as long as we wanted. I sat for a long time in that church, gazing up at the icons all around, mesmerized by their beauty.<\/p>\n I know I should tell you more about the church\u2019s history, and who attends there, and the story of the artists who created the icons. But by that time in our Vienna tour I was a little\u00a0burned out on taking notes and collecting brochures. Sometimes the best way to do research is simply to sit. So that\u2019s\u00a0what I did in that church.<\/p>\n As I did so, I realized once again that most places aren\u2019t holy because of their\u00a0history, or their political or theological stances, or even the beauty of their art. Instead they are sacred because they speak to us through some mysterious language\u00a0of the spirit, one that we learn not through study, but through osmosis.<\/p>\n The Holy Trinity Church\u00a0was\u00a0a good place to sit in silence. And isn\u2019t that perhaps the most valuable thing holy places offer us?<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Stay in touch! Like Holy Rover on Facebook:<\/em><\/p>\n![\"IMG_3865\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/628\/2016\/08\/IMG_3865-620x1024.jpg\")
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