Jesuit Church

The Vienna Jesuit Church on Dr.-Ignaz-Seipel-Platz was built between 1623 and 1627 as the church of the Catholic university and stands in the Inner City. Between 1703 and 1705 the Italian painter-architect Andrea Pozzo, a master of Jesuit visual propaganda, transformed the interior and created what made the building famous worldwide: the illusionistic false dome over the nave. Painted on a flat ceiling, the dome appears solid from a marked spot on the floor and seems to open the space upward. Twelve twisted marble columns of red, green and black follow the model of Bernini's baldachin in Saint Peter's. The Jesuit order still oversees the liturgy here, often with vespers and student services.