Lutheran City Church

The Lutheran City Church on Dorotheergasse is the main Evangelical Lutheran sanctuary in central Vienna. Built from 1701 as a Catholic convent church of the Poor Clares, it was handed to the Lutheran congregation in 1783 after Emperor Joseph II's Edict of Tolerance and refitted to suit Lutheran liturgy. Since non-Catholic churches were then forbidden bells or street-facing towers, the facade is deliberately plain and only reveals its sacred function inside. The church is now the principal parish of the Lutheran district of Vienna, and organ concerts run regularly. Walking from the Graben down Dorotheergasse toward the Hofburg, you can easily miss the modest entrance, behind which opens a bright baroque hall with a combined pulpit-altar.