Am Schöpfwerk Church

The Church Am Schoepfwerk in Vienna's 12th district of Meidling stands among the prefab blocks of the 1970s Schoepfwerk housing estate. Until 2022 it was Meidling's youngest Catholic parish church, dedicated to Saint Francis of Assisi. After the parish dissolved, a Russian Orthodox community took the building over and reconsecrated it as the Church of the Akathist to the Most Holy Mother of God. The plain concrete sanctuary thus became one of Vienna's rarer Orthodox sites. Walking through the surrounding apartment blocks you can easily miss the low-slung structure at first glance - inside an icon-covered iconostasis and rows of candles have replaced the original spartan furnishings.