The Celestine Church, Steyr, also the Old Town Theatre (german: Cölestinerinnen-Kirche Steyr; ''Altes Stadttheater''), is a former monastic church of the Celestine nuns in the town of

Steyr Steyr (; Central Bavarian: ''Steia'') is a statutory city, located in the Austrian federal state of Upper Austria. It is the administrative capital, though not part of Steyr-Land District. Steyr is Austria's 12th most populated town and the 3rd l ...

Upper Austria Upper Austria (german: Oberösterreich ; bar, Obaöstareich) is one of the nine states or of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as the other Austrian states of Lower Austria, Styria, a ...

. The building, which is a protected historical monument, after conversion to a theatre in the 1790s, is now used as a music school and performance space.

History

In 1646 a community of nuns of the

Order of the Most Holy Annunciation The Order of the Most Holy AnnunciationIn Italian: ''Ordine della Santissima Annunziata'' ( la, Ordo Sanctissimae Annuntiationis), also known as the Turchine or Blue Nuns, as well as the Celestine Nuns, is a Roman Catholic religious order of co ...

, otherwise known as Celestine Nuns, after being driven by war from their original home in

Pontarlier Pontarlier ( ; Latin: ''Ariolica'') is a commune and one of the two sub-prefectures of the Doubs department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in eastern France near the Swiss border. History Pontarlier occupies the ancient Roman station of ...

, Burgundy, came first to Vienna and then to Steyr, where the Empress Eleonora gave them a house. Other benefactors made possible the conversion of the site to conventual buildings in 1662 and the construction of the church between 1676 and 1681. After a fire in 1727 it was rebuilt in 1728. In 1784 the nunnery was dissolved under the Josephine reforms, and the municipal authority of Steyr acquired both the conventual buildings and the church. In 1789, with the stage fittings from the suppressed

Garsten Abbey Garsten Abbey (german: Stift Garsten) is a former Benedictine monastery located in Garsten near Steyr in Upper Austria. Since 1851, the former monastery buildings have accommodated a prison. History The abbey was founded in 1080–1082 by Ottoka ...

, efforts began to construct a theatre: the project was finally achieved in 1796 with financial support from Prince Lamberg. The building then became known as the Stadttheater, and after it was superseded in 1958, as the Altes Stadttheater (Old Town Theatre). The high altar from the former church, with

Rococo Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...

statues and an altarpiece by Franz Xaver Gürtler (1777), was transferred in 1839 to

Schiedlberg Parish Church Schiedlberg Parish Church (german: Pfarrkirche Mariä Verkündigung) is the Roman Catholic parish church of the village of Schiedlberg in Upper Austria, dedicated to the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It belongs to the deanery of Steyr ...

Architecture

The

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

church, built without towers, has colossal Tuscan pilasters and Baroque window mouldings. The east front onto the Berggasse has a lavishly curved gable. In the former crypt is a mid-18th-century fresco of the

Crucifixion Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross or beam and left to hang until eventual death from exhaustion and asphyxiation. It was used as a punishment by the Persians, Carthagin ...

by Johann Georg Morzer.''Steyr, Ehemalige Cölestinerinnen-Kirche, Berggasse Nr. 10'', p. 332. In: ''Die Kunstdenkmäler Österreichs. Dehio Oberösterreich''. By Erwin Hainisch, revised by Kurt Woisetschläger; forewords to 3rd and 4th editions (1958 and 1960) by Walter Frodl; 6th edition, Verlag Anton Schroll & Co., Vienna 1977

References

External links

{{Coord, 48.0401, 14.4184, display=title, format=dms 17th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Austria Steyr Nunneries in Austria

History

Architecture

References

Further reading

External links