Architect
20 July 1656, Graz, Austria - 5 April 1723, Vienna
Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach built four churches in Salzburg in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, all commissioned by Archbishop Johann Ernst von Thun, and created the architectural character that makes the city’s Baroque skyline one of the most coherent in Central Europe.
Fischer von Erlach arrived in Salzburg in 1693 already shaped by fifteen years in Rome, where he had worked in the circle of Bernini and studied the major monuments of classical and Baroque architecture. He came to Austria’s second city not as a newcomer but as the court architect already trusted by three Habsburg emperors, and Archbishop Johann Ernst von Thun recognized in him the architect who could give Salzburg an identity equal to Vienna.
The four churches he built for Thun are the core of his Salzburg legacy. The Dreifaltigkeitskirche (Trinity Church, 1694-1702), on the right bank of the Salzach, has the concave facade that pulls you toward it; the Kollegienkirche (Collegiate Church, 1696-1707), near the university on the left bank, has the convex facade that pushes outward. Both use oval interior spaces that create a sense of movement and light unlike earlier church forms. The two buildings are in visual conversation with each other across the city, and the spatial logic connecting them is one of the most sophisticated things in European Baroque architecture.
The Wallfahrtskirche Maria Kirchental near Lofer, completed 1701, and the Johannesspital Church from around the same period round out the Salzburg body of work.
Fischer von Erlach moved to Vienna, where he designed the Karlskirche and what is now the Austrian National Library. But Salzburg is where his mature Baroque language first fully developed, and it remains the city where you can walk between his buildings in an afternoon and see the whole argument he was making.
On the map
The 4 places on this page, where they actually stand.
Locations
Built 1694-1702
One of Fischer von Erlach's four major Salzburg churches. Notable for its oval dome, paired towers, and convex outward-curving facade, which forms a deliberate architectural conversation with the concave Kollegienkirche across the river. Adjacent to Mozart's Residence on Makartplatz.
Built 1699-1703, consecrated 1704
A Baroque church built 1699-1703 by Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach as part of the Johannesspital complex on the right bank, commissioned by Archbishop Johann Ernst von Thun. One of Fischer von Erlach's four major Salzburg churches. A stone labyrinth stands on the lawn beside it.
Built 1696-1707
Fischer von Erlach's masterpiece in Salzburg and one of the finest baroque churches in the German-speaking world. His fourth and final major church in the city. The concave facade creates a deliberate counterpoint to the convex Dreifaltigkeitskirche across the river. On Universitatsplatz. A must-see.
Built 1694-1701
A baroque pilgrimage church at the head of the Kirchental valley near Lofer, designed by Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach and set against the dramatic Loferer Steinberge mountains. One of the most beautifully situated churches in Austria.
Read more
The longer pieces where this comes up.
If you have seen Schonbrunn Palace in Vienna, the most visited building in Austria, you have seen the work of Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach. He designed it. He also designed the Karlskirche, the National Library, and much of imperial Vienna's monumental face.
