A quick glance at Salzburg’s Franciscan Church tell you this is not a model of harmonious proportions and unified design. Its unusual shape also gives it unusual interior vistas.
The church is entered through a long, relatively low-ceilinged single-aisle nave that leads to the much taller, and taller-roofed choir at the end. The nave has only small high windows, leaving it in shadow compared to the promise of brilliant ‘light at the end of the tunnel.’
The church is one of the oldest in the city, dating to 1208, although older churches were there before. The choir was rebuilt 200 years later in Gothic style, and later that century the tower was added. In the 1600s, the Archbishop of Salzburg ordered the tower shortened because it was taller than the nearby cathedral; it got its full height back in 1866.
The Baroque interior style dates from the 1700s. The imposing high altar, made of red marble and gold, was created by Fischer von Erlach during that renovation.
Beautiful photography!
Thanks! I really enjoyed walking down that long nave and having the light open up before me!