Sankt Pölten Cathedral, Sankt Pölten, Austria

Sankt Pölten Cathedral has been the episcopal seat of the Diocese of Sankt Pölten since 1785, having previously been the church of the Augustinian Abbey of St. Pölten, dissolved in 1784. The building, despite being a well-preserved late Romanesque structure, is Baroque in appearance.

The use of the site for religious buildings is believed to date from around 790, when a Benedictine monastery was established here, to which were brought the relics of Saint Hippolytus, after whom the present city is named. In 828, the monastery became a possession of the Diocese of Passau, and a centre of missionary activity, predominantly in Great Moravia. After the invasion of the Magyars in around 907, the monastery was almost entirely destroyed, and was not rebuilt until after the Battle of Lechfeld in 955. The first documentary reference is in a charter of 976 from Emperor Otto II to Bishop Pilgrim of Passau.

Under Bishop Altmann of Passau the abbey became an Augustinian canonry, which was dissolved in 1784 as part of the Josephine Reforms.

In around 1150, the abbey church was rebuilt with three naves but no transept, with a westwork including two towers. In 1228 Bishop Gebhard changed the dedication, formerly to Saints Peter, Stephen and Hippolytus, to the Assumption of Mary. After a fire it was rebuilt again between 1267 and 1280. After another fire in 1621 the entire building was remodelled in the present Baroque style.

References:

Wikipedia

User Reviews

G. Bran. (17 months ago)
Impressive cathedral

mark almond (23 months ago)
The cathedral is worth seeing

Georg Guttmann (2 years ago)
Really baby photos rainy wet wengel cold more loss in the night than morning strange mood

kristina Stefan (2 years ago)
One of the most beautiful and wonderful churches in the world, a masterpiece

Ирина Бенцлер (3 years ago)
The Cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary (Dom Mariä Himmelfahrt) was erected in 1150 on the site of the former church of the monastery of St. Hippolyta. The interior of the cathedral is decorated with frescoes and paintings by great masters of the Baroque era - Daniel Gran, Antonio Tassi, Bartolomeo Almonte and others. The fires of the XIII and XVI centuries destroyed a lot - they had to rebuild the cathedral in the Gothic style. In the XVIII century, another reconstruction was carried out and the interior was changed to Baroque. We took our time and spent 10 minutes here contemplating the surrounding beauty. Could notice a lot of interesting things. And all this to the sounds of the organ. There the organist played on a modern electronic organ. But this is in the presence of a huge and beautiful Present But the Domsky Square (Domplatz) categorically did not like - the usual parking for cars in front of the cathedral. True, one beautiful building opposite the cathedral was decorated with curbstones with flowers. Still there, in one place, some archaeological excavations are underway - it is believed that the center of the ancient Roman settlement Elium Centium was located here. And along the way there was the Place of the Lord or the Place of the Lord (Herrenplatz), where the Marian pillar or column of Mary (Mariensäule) was installed. I liked this one. "Chatting women" met here next to a drinking fountain

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Les Invalides

Les Invalides is a complex of buildings containing museums and monuments, all relating to the military history of France, as well as a hospital and a retirement home for war veterans, the building"s original purpose. The buildings house the Musée de l"Armée, the military museum of the Army of France, the Musée des Plans-Reliefs, and the Musée d"Histoire Contemporaine, as well as the burial site for some of France"s war heroes, notably Napoleon Bonaparte.

Louis XIV initiated the project in 1670, as a home and hospital for aged and unwell soldiers: the name is a shortened form of hôpital des invalides. The architect of Les Invalides was Libéral Bruant. The enlarged project was completed in 1676, the river front measured 196 metres and the complex had fifteen courtyards. Jules Hardouin Mansart assisted the aged Bruant, and the chapel was finished in 1679 to Bruant"s designs after the elder architect"s death.

Shortly after the veterans" chapel was completed, Louis XIV commissioned Mansart to construct a separate private royal chapel referred to as the Église du Dôme from its most striking feature. Inspired by St. Peter"s Basilica in Rome, the original for all Baroque domes, it is one of the triumphs of French Baroque architecture. The domed chapel is centrally placed to dominate the court of honour. It was finished in 1708.

Because of its location and significance, the Invalides served as the scene for several key events in French history. On 14 July 1789 it was stormed by Parisian rioters who seized the cannons and muskets stored in its cellars to use against the Bastille later the same day. Napoleon was entombed under the dome of the Invalides with great ceremony in 1840. In December 1894 the degradation of Captain Alfred Dreyfus was held before the main building, while his subsequent rehabilitation ceremony took place in a courtyard of the complex in 1906.

The building retained its primary function of a retirement home and hospital for military veterans until the early twentieth century. In 1872 the musée d"artillerie (Artillery Museum) was located within the building to be joined by the Historical Museum of the Armies in 1896. The two institutions were merged to form the present musée de l"armée in 1905. At the same time the veterans in residence were dispersed to smaller centres outside Paris. The reason was that the adoption of a mainly conscript army, after 1872, meant a substantial reduction in the numbers of veterans having the twenty or more years of military service formerly required to enter the Hôpital des Invalides. The building accordingly became too large for its original purpose. The modern complex does however still include the facilities detailed below for about a hundred elderly or incapacitated former soldiers.

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