St. Mark's Church Salzburg

Snapshot

The Baroque church in Nonntal was built on one of the most catastrophic sites in Salzburg’s history. The 1669 rockfall that destroyed its predecessor killed over 200 people. Today the church, associated with Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach, serves Salzburg’s Ukrainian Greek-Catholic community and holds a Byzantine iconostasis inside its Baroque shell.

The Story

On 16 July 1669, a rockfall from the Mönchsberg swept down onto the Barmherzige Bruder church and hospital in the Gstattengasse, killing approximately 220 people sheltering inside. A plaque on the street still marks the event. It remains one of the deadliest single incidents in Salzburg’s recorded history. The ruins sat empty for decades.

In 1699, Prince-Archbishop Johann Ernst Thun invited the Ursuline nuns to reclaim the site. They laid the cornerstone for a new church and established the first school for girls in Salzburg. The building was consecrated in 1705. The facade, with its bold convex front pushing toward the narrow street, is broadly attributed to the influence of Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach, whose Kollegienkirche it closely resembles. The interior received its Baroque decoration, including Christof Anton Mayr’s stucco work and frescoes (1756), and an organ by Matthäus Mauracher, over subsequent decades.

The Ursulines occupied the convent until 1957. After structural problems and a collaborative restoration effort, the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church received the building in 1999. In 2000, Bohdan Turetsky installed a wooden iconostasis on the old communion rail, placing a Byzantine screen inside a Baroque nave. The combination is unexpected and genuine: the liturgy is Byzantine rite, the architecture is Counter-Reformation Salzburg.

The church is now formally dedicated to St. Ursula but commonly known as St. Mark’s. It also houses a small natural science collection.

Visiting

In the Nonntal area, below the fortress cliff on Gstattengasse. Free entry during daytime hours. The 1669 rockfall plaque is on Gstattengasse nearby. The iconostasis inside is an unusual sight in this setting. Combine with Nonnberg Abbey and Hohensalzburg Fortress as part of a Nonntal walk.