Vienna - Dominican Church (Rosary Basilica ad. S. Mariam Rotundam)

(Local Name: Dominikanerkirche) The Dominicans were called to Vienna in 1226 and they consecrated their first church as early as 1237. After a series of fires work began on the construction of a Gothic church between 1283 and 1302. This suffered severe damage in the First Turkish Siege of 1529. The present church, the third, was built between 1631 and 1632 and is one of the most beautiful Early Baroque churches in Vienna. It was promoted to the rank of a "minor basilica" in 1927, bearing the name "Rosary Basilica ad. S. Mariam Rotundam". The frescoes in the nave are by Matthias Rauchmiller (17th C.); those in the crossing are by Franz Geyling (1836), and those in the choir by Carpoforo Tencala (1676). All the wall and ceiling paintings in the side chapels date from the 17th C. The subject of the picture above the High Altar, "The Virgin as Queen of the Rosary" by Leopold Kupelweiser (1839), refers to the institution of the Festival of the Rosary by Pope Gregory XIII. The chapels date from the 17th C. and 18th C. The oldest is the Thomas Aquinas Chapel with a painting above the altar dated 1638. The most important is the Vincent Chapel. Its altar-piece, "St Vincent raising a Man from the Dead", was painted by Françoise Roettiers in 1726.