San Carlo (San Carlino) alle Quatro Fontane, Rome

 I hesitate before writing about this great building : it is in all the architecture books, revered and much visited - Borromini's masterpiece. The first time I was in Rome in the 1970s, completely ignorant about it, we were staying nearby and on the first night walked by, noticing crowds of tourists emerging from it. We popped in, but like many of them I suspect, had no idea about its importance. Such a building was not in my radar at that time. This Easter 2024 it was very much on our flightpath and we spent good time inside marvelling at the c0omplexity of the design. It is indeed small, and built on a cramped and difficult site. 

It was Borromini's first independent commission - a church and monastery. His design included a small and ingenious cloister and a revolutionary oval church which is difficult both ro describe and photograph easily. The church was finished by 1641 except for the facade (1667}. In the church Borromini used an undulating wavy lower zone, with a zone above   based on a Greek cross, and an oval dome above. In the past the dome would have rested on a plan of the sme shape. Here this was not so. Herein lies the complexity of the interior. The effect is to make the viewer's eyes wander around endlessly. I find this interior  almost impossible to describe. I think it is probably the prime example of what I can feel in a great Baroque building - restless excitement.  I can only recommend everyone to experience this great place for themselves.

Church interior

Looking up to the dome in the church

There is a crypt under the church

Interior passage

The cloister

San Agnese, Rome

After his election in 1641 Pope Innocent X had ambitions to make Piazza Navona the grandest of all in Rome. His family's (Pamphili) palace was situated there.....It was to be dominated by a new Church dedicated to St Agnese and Innocent wanted  to be buried there .The Piazza was the site of the Circus of Domitian and traditionally where St. Agnes had been martyred. There had been a church there dedicated to her since the 8th century. It had been aligned in the opposite direction and since 1581 possessed by the Congregazione dei Chierici Regolari Minore. It was now considered inadequate for their needs. Carlo Rainaldi, and his father Girolamo, were employed and the foundation stone laid in 1652. The site was constricted and due to its shallowness a Greek cross design was adopted. Work progressed quickly but the Rainaldis soon came under fire and they were dismissed. For example the planned big flight of steps into the Piazza was going to take up too much space there. 

 Chosen by the Pope  Borromini took over in  August 1653. He was stuck with the basic shape because part of the facade and the  pillars for the crossing were well advanced. First he pulled down the central part of Rainaldi's facade and abandoned the planned vestibule and huge flight of steps. This allowed the central section to be joined up with the end bays with concave units. The end bays with their cupolas were retained with some revisions. 

Night shot toward St Agnes. Creative Commons Michael Foley 

In the interior he transformed the building and his alterations emphasised the octagonal nature of the central area and the feeling of height. The site is shallow so the transverse axis is 10% longer than the longitudinal axis. The feeling of height is because the the height is 25% greater than the longitudinal. The coloured marble columns leading to the tall arches, highly coloured pendatives and cupoila all give an upward thrust. The red and white marble illuminated by light from the dome dominate the central space. John Varriano in Italian Baroque and Rococo Architecture (Oxford, 1986) sees this as part of the Counter Reformation  trend of salvation coming from above : therefore priest and people are looking upward. 

Interior looking toward high altar Creative Commons NikonZ711

Near the end of 1653 the Pamphili bought the adjoining Palazzo Ornano and after it had been demolished Borromini was able to use the space for a sacristy and courtyard. It also enabled him to extend the facade. By 1655 when Innocent died the building was nowhere near finished. The Pamphili family continued with the work but relations with Borromini declined and he withdrew. Carlo Rainaldi returned in 1657 and with some help from others, completed in 1657. Of course he made some changes from Borromini's intentions including a high attic storey to the facade and changed the nature of the pediment.

Work progressed internally into the next century, particularly with the large marble relief altar pieces. Domenico Guidi only completed the Holy Family relief for the high altar in 1724. We now have a museum of Roman sculpture and perhaps the finest Baroque church decoration in Rome.

View into frescoed cupola and pendentives; apse on left, entrance with organ and tomb of Pope Innocent X on right

Many different artists had worked on the planning, building and decoration of this church. There is a similarity in its complex development with that of St Peter's. It is almost a kind of replay  and we have been shown a new way of solving the relationship of facade and dome- a better way. Here the great high dome set on its elegant drum crowns the exterior  reminding us of Borromini's greatness and graces Rome's finest square.

Rohr Abbey

 

Assumption of Our Lady   Egid Quirin Asam, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

A monastery at Rohr populated by Augustinian canons was founded in 1133 and by 1450 five pariashe5s were incorporated into it. After a trying time in the first half of the 16th century, the foundation picked up and the church got a Baroque makeover in 1618. Alas the Thirty Years War led to complete destruction by the Swedes in 1632 - including a  magnificent library. In 1648 the Imperial troops burned it again. The 24 inmates were now down to 6. The monastic income fell due to population  loss and only in 1661 could there be rebuilding.

Rohr in 1687

Patritiuis von Heydon was Provost 1682-1730 and he began building work with a higher church tower in 1696, a new mill in 1701 and new collegiate church in 1717. In his heyday there were 23 canons and 48 employees. The church was initially to be designed by Joseph Bader a master mason and plasterer from Wessobrunn. As construction got under way it is clear that Egid Quirin Asam is involved in the design but it is impossible to tell how far. He was the interior designer too. He completed the high altar after the inauguration of the church in 1722 and the sculptured figures 1723. The church was largely finished in 1725 and there were no 19th century updates.

The high altar 1722-3 is Egid Assam's masterpiece. This Theatrum sacrum demonstrates the knowledge he gained from the work of Bernini and Andrea Pozzo in Rome. Rather than try to describe this trully amazing sculptural masterpiece Take a look at the photo. It is one of the most amazing things I have ever seen.The stucco work is very rich in the transepts, crossing and choir. 

Building work continued under a number of Provosts throughout the rest of the 18th century. Secularisation and closure came in 1803. The church became the parish church of the town of Rohr. Most convent buildings are sold and demolished. Only the east wing housing the rectory and school survive. 

The model for the church can be traced back to San Andrea della Valle in Rome, without the dome. Instead the crossing has what is called a Bohemian cap.

After the Second World War 29 monks from Broumov Monastery in what is now eastern Czech Republic came to Rohr after their own monastery had been expropriated. They opened a High School and founded a new community : Braunau Abbey in Rohr. The land taken up by demolished monastic buildings is repurchased. Apparently the number of monks there is declining. I can remember being served by one in the bookshop back in  1989.   

St Nicholas, Prague

 

After the Thirty Years War the Jesuits were given space in the Mala Strana and they started their convent building there in 1665 and in 1673 the foundations of a  church. Work stopped for unknown reasons and by 1703 was proceeding again to a plan, almost certainly by Krystof Dientdenhofer. By 1711 the nave had vaults and then work stopped again. 

The nave  CC By-SA 3.0 Jorge Royan

The nave is 85 feet long and 45 broad divided into three bays flanked by deep recessed chapels.The basic Vorarlberg wall pillar design is there. But there is a crucial difference :the pillars are given a sloping edge at 45 degrees and the pilasters aligned at this angle on the faces so formed. Also the pilasters are doubled and superimposed. The pillars therefore become sculptural and above the gallery swings from pier to pier, These effects are continued across the organ gallery to form a continuous curvy movement around the interior of the nave. There is controversy over the influence of Guarini and in particular engravings of his Church of Divine providence in Lisbon are cited. We cannot check out the latter because it was destroyed in the 1755 earthquake. The nave vault at St Nicholas has ribs in three dimensions and instead these may be derived from the late Gothic of churches like St Barbara at Kutna Hora.

There is a dynamism in the facade : the three bays go concave convex concave but on the ground level the larger central section is cut away to frame pairs of columns and on the upper storeys is pushed back. Maybe it is derived from Borromini's San Carlo alle Quatro Fontane in Rome.

Plan by Planetware

Christoph died in 1722 before his designs for the choir and tower could be done. His son Kilian had to do it 1737-53. He decided to use all the available space at the choir end and his solution is much grander than the originals by his father. The sacristy behind the high altar was abandoned and an oval one put on the left side of the hih altar and the right hand side is used the base of the huge tower. The central  area under the dome  has three apse like arms coming from it. The piers supporting the dome have coupled columns protruding into the space crowned with sculptures. With the great structure of the high altar these columns, pilasters, sculptures they almost make the wall surface disappear. It is an overwhelming effect and leads the eye upward to seek rest in the dome. Above the entablature below the drum windows are separated by slender columns and figures. 

Creative Commons CC BY-SA 3.0 Ludek

The final great change involved the frescos by Johann Lukas Kracker. His great fresco in the nave is one of the finest Baroque ceilings north of the Alps. Christoph's ribbed vaults were plastered over to create a smooth undulating surface. Across a blue sky St Nicholas is carried up to Heaven by the angels. 

Apotheosis of St Nicholas  CC

This was the most ambitious Jesuit Church in Central Europe. Kilian had taken his father's achievement even further. "But his true monument is the setting...of the dome and the tower, completed last of all. From every angle they seem inevitable, indispensable; yet this is the last great accent the left bank town received, By itself the fat pilastered mass of the dome would float unanchored in that buffeting sea of tiles; by itself the tower with its fanciful Chinese-looking cap would seem merely to strive for notice with the rest. Together they make the pivot upon which silently the city turns." Brian Knox "The architecture of Prague and Bohemia. (Faber, 1962.)

St Florian

 

Aerial view   CC SA-BY 4.0 C.Stadler/Bwag

St Florian will always remind me of Bruckner. In August 1967 I wrote "we drove out of Linz to the monastery of St Florian, about 10 miles southeast.. Here lies the tomb of Anton Bruckner , beneath the organ he played so brilliantly. The monastery is a huge and imposing structure and the adjoining church is one of the most beautiful I have ever seen. I shall never forget it and for me one of the highlights of the holiday was to gaze in silent admiration at the sight of Bruckner's tomb. After that we returned to the caravan and had an evening meal of of tinned "Country supper" followed by a tin of cherries".

St Florian was an official in the Roman province in present day Lower Austria during the reign of Domitian. It  was a time of persecution  in 304 and Florian's defence of local Christians led to his own torture and death, by being attached to a very large stone and thrown into the river. A local believer, Valeria, managed to save his body and it was buried in a beech grove near present day St Florian.In 488 the body and of  other local saints were moved to Rome for safety. Florian is also popular in Poland. Only in the 18th century with pilgrimage at its height at St Florian did Provost Johann Georg get a portion of Florian relics back. St Florian has become known as a protector from fire - popular with Fire Brigades. There may have been a church at St Florian in the 8th century but the usual date for foundation of a convent for Augustinian canons is 1071. The collegiate church was consecrated in 1091.The remains of some 6000 local Christians were buried in the convent.(More of this later). Provost Leopold Zehetner 's time(1612-46) was one of recovery, including the growth of the library to 4000 books, despite the depredations of the Thirty Years War  He was in favour of replacing the Gothic church, but it was under Provost David Fuhrmann (1667-89) that a new Collegiate Church was commissioned from the Italian Carlo Antonio Carlone, and the foundation stone laid in 1686.with flourishes of trumpets and trombones (the bill for them exists!). 

Over the next 70 years the monastery was transformed. The complex got bigger and bigger under Fuhremann's five successors.The Augustinian canons were well known for engagement in scientific work When Emperor Joseph II reformed monasteries, St Florian was threatened with closure. Fortunately this was avoided but their estates were in the Wachau were forfeit along with the church treasure. Although avoiding secularisation, St Florian had to deal with financial problems. Nevertheless it kept its status as a spiritual scientific centre in the first half of the 19th century and acted as a cradle of modern historiography. In the 20th century it has been used for a number of other purposes, including a broadcasting station, wine cellar, and an HQ for US Army in 1945. In 1948 the canons returned.

The Collegiate Church  (http://www.stift-st-florian.at/en/home.html)

Carlone built his new twin-towered basilica to directly replace the medieval church. It has a calotte over the crossing (like skull cap - dome without drum) and sail vaults in the nave. In the nave the stucco work is by his brother, Bartolomeo Carlone. (reminiscent of Passau Cathedral). The panels in the ceiling were meant to be stucco but the new Provost wanted frescos. Therefore Carlone used illusionist architectural painting by Johann Anton Gumpp and Melchior Steidl. The high altar by Giovanni Battist Colomba of red Salzburg marble is embellished with statues of saints by Giuseppe Boni. The superb canons' choir stalls by Linz sculptor Adam Franz date from 1690. Choral music was very important in the lives of the canons.

Marmorsaal (http://www.stift-st-florian.at/en/home.html)

The magnificent Library (http://www.stift-st-florian.at/en/home.html)

Prandtauer took over on Carlone's death in 1708. Carlone's plans for the design of the convent were much changed. Under him the Imperial rooms for important visitors were created. The Marmorsaal glorifies Prince Eugen's victories over the Turks with huge frescos by Bartolomeo Altomonte. Gotthard Hayberger's Library (1744-51) with undulating bookcases by J.C.Jegg has ceiling frescos of the Blessings coming from the marriage of Virtue and Wisdom.

The main organ by Franz Xaver Krismann from Laibach was built 1770-4 and is now known as the Bruckner organ. It was rebuilt in the 19th century and completely overhauled after the Second World War. Anton Bruckner has always been one of my favourite composers. I have loved his music since the 1960s when it was nowhere near so popular. Since then I have been fortunate enough to hear the great symphonies conducted by great conductors like Herbert von Karajan, Bernard Haitink, Gunther Wand and greatest of all, Eugen Jochum. 

Imperial rooms  

https://trudymason.com/tag/anton-bruckner-sarcophagus/

Pope Pius VI slept in this bed on his visit to Vienna 
to meet Emperor Joseph II 
https://trudymason.com/tag/anton-bruckner-sarcophagus/

On the tour of the monastery I was shown the great staircase by Prandtauer, the Marmorsaal, and the series of state room. These are particularly interesting because in most other monasteries such rooms have been altered,and their contents lost. Here we get a real idea of the how they looked in the 18th century.The 16 rooms - large and small- evoke the era of Charles VI and Maria Teresa. In one of them is the bed in which Bruckner died with a haunting photo of him in the bed. My father aged 92 had only recently died......  The tour continued into the "Tomb" area or charnel house, to which the  thousands of skeletons of early Christians had been moved. Bruckner had a fascination with death and dead people. It was a spooky place and above I could hear a choir singing. We emerged into the Church and it was empty - no sign of singers or choir. ......

This is the Bruckner room, bed and photo just before he died.

                                   https://trudymason.com/tag/anton-bruckner-sarcophagus/

Later on I had a typical Austrian lunch in the nice restaurant in the cloister. A couple of choir boys passed by and I felt a little reassured of my sanity. However, for me,  these Baroque monasteries have an air of mystery,  always. 

The Bruckner Organ  CC BY-SA 4.0 C.Stadler/Bwag

Unusually in this post I have not just Creative Commons photos. I hope that Stift St Florian will appreciate my motives and see this post as an incentive to visit.  Trudy Mason's photos are amazing and she has done a far better job than I of recording her visit.

Melk

 

Classic view up to the Church flanked by Library and Marmorsaal CC BY-SA 4.0 Thomas Ledl

CC BY-SA 4.Uoaei1

Twice I bypassed this great Abbey and when I finally  had the time and opportunity in 1989, I  arrived in the dark- and pitched my little ridge tent in the campsite near the river. 

We returned in  2008 arriving by boat on a river trip from Durnstein.

 

Now I see Melk every day - I have a model on the shelf next to where I am writing today. 

The Benedictines were given a castle by the Babenburg Margrave Leopold II in  1089 and it was on this land that a monastery grew up. The rise of Protestantism in the 16th century led to significant decline and 1550 there were only 8 monks living there. Turkish raids and taxation were ruining the Abbey. The defeat of the Turks outside Vienna in 1683 lifted a huge cloud from the area and confidence returned. In 1700 Bertold Dietmayr was elected Abbot at the age of 30. Ambitious and energetic  he was to be abbot 39 years . By his work at the University in Vienna, as a member of the Imperial Diet, and manager of the conventual estates, he had the means and ability to push for rebuilding. Display of splendour could serve God. He was able to prove that the rebuilding plans came from current revenues when challenged by critics. The chosen architect was Jakob Prandtauer (1660-1726) from the Tyrol,  a master mason and sculptor. He belonged to a religious brotherhood and his son was a canon. His designs retained a monastic character e.g. he southern facade. He was told to keep to the old site which  extended along  a rocky ledge.

 

Aeria

Aerial view showing the fantastic situation   CC BY-SA 4.0 Carsten Steger

Prelate's court CC BY-SA 3.0 Aconcagua

The scale of the monastic buildings is staggering. There is the Prelatial court where the Abbot had his quarters and there is  the Imperial suite intended for visits by the Emperor and important guests - featuring a monumental staircase and reception rooms leading to the Marmorsaal. and the Library. Paul Troger (1698-1762) provided the frescos in the Marmorsaal (Hercules Heroicus the triumph of moderation)  and in the Library (Hercules Christianus . the triumph of  divine wisdom). Maybe the choice of Hercules is an allusion to the Emperor - a new Hercules triumphing over vice and promoting wisdom. 

Marmorsaal ceiling CC BY SA 2.5 Alberto Fernandez Fernandez

Marmorsaal    CC BY - SA 2.0

The abbey complex we see today is majestic from any angle. The ridge on which it is built so narrow that the church is an inseparable part of the whole .The church facade is usually seen through the flanking curves of the monastic buildings housing Library one side and Marmorsaal the other. Formerly this western orientation had been a plain arcaded court. Prandtauer  opened it up with a low gallery in front . Genius! The tower superstructures were rebuilt by Munggenast after a fire in 1738 light and beautiful with some similarity with Durnstein. The dome is unlike the usual type at Viennese churches and has horizontal bands rather than the usual vertical ribs as at St Peter's in Rome.

Dome and high altar           CC BY-SA 3.0

The interior strikes first for its intense colour scheme : pillasters of reddish brown ,marble against a background of paler red with white only in the ceiling frescos. There is a great sense of height and just about all wall space is faced or decorated. There are subtle lighting effects and light is concentrated around the dome and high altar areas. The crossing with shallow transepts does not have heavy transverse arches and the dome appears to hover. The dome is 210 feet and painted angels hover making music. There are very fine frescos of the Church Triumphant and of the Holy Trinity  by Michael Rottmayr dating from 1716. The high altar (1732) is by Antonio  Beduzzi and the statues are by Peter Widerin. Saints Peter and Paul are taking leave of each other. There is a huge crown above them symbolic of victory and the words 'non coronabitur nisi legitime certaverit' or he shall not be crowned except he have fought the good fight. Far above God the Father sits on a globe. There is a notable altar by Widerin nestled away on a pier at the side. The organ case is splendid (1733).

The ceiling frescos         CC BY-SA 4.Uoaei1

Durnstein

 

Durnstein Castle has a certain pull for English visitors because it was likely here that bad Archduke Leopold of Austria held our King Richard the Lionheart to ransom after the Third Crusade. We only clambered up there once on the first day. After that the attractions of  Durnstein  Pfarrkirche were much more attractive. Situated on the Danube it is such a charming place and a fantastic base to explore the Wachau, by bike in those days....

The priory was founded in 1410 standing on a rock overlooking the river Danube. It was Prior Ubelbacher who had the existing roof and ridge turret pulled down and       commissioned J.Prandtauer, Josef Munggenast and Matthias Steinl, and stuccoist Santino Bussi. The south portal is by Steinl with statuary of the Divine virtues with vigilance and strength done in 1718.The Priory courtyard was probably designed by Prandtauer.

The entrance to the church  by Matthias Steinl has the Four fathers of the Church and Christ Our Saviour  above.

The tower is the most memorable part of the exterior. It dates from 1733, richly ornamented with putti, obelisks and balustrades and is by Steinl and Mungennast. The blue and white decor is so memorable from the river/It is probably the finest Baroque tower in Austria. It seems to grow out of the terrace, almost like a tree trun                                                                                                                                  

The interior of the church is intimate and there are over 100 angels present ; the walls are curving and above them stucco reliefs of the Annunciation, Nativity, the Magi and the Resurrection.The stucco ornament on the ceiling is by Bussi. The high altar tabernacle is unusually  a globe. There are fine choir stalls with gilded scenes from the Te Deum.

On the south side of the church on the site of an old cloister there is a Christmas altar and a baroque setting for the Good Friday Holy Sepulchre, by Antonio Galli-Bibiena.