The Maltese Church () (full name - Church of Saint John the Baptist) is a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, a Germanic people **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Gothic alphabet, an alphabet used to write the Gothic language ** Gothic ( ...

church of the

Knights Hospitaller The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), is a Catholic military order. It was founded in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century and had headquarters there ...

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, on Kärntner Straße in the 1. Wiener Gemeindebezirk

Innere Stadt The Innere Stadt (; ; "Inner City") is the 1st municipal Districts of Vienna, district of Vienna () located in the center of the Austrian capital. The Innere Stadt is the old town of Vienna. Until the city boundaries were expanded in 1850, the I ...

. The first church on this site is mentioned in 1217, as a "House of the Prueder of the Order of Saint John", a

commandry In the Middle Ages, a commandery (rarely commandry) was the smallest administrative division of the European landed properties of a military order. It was also the name of the house where the knights of the commandery lived.Anthony Luttrell and G ...

to care and support crusaders. The current building was built in the mid 15th century. In the 17th century it was a favoured preaching location for

Abraham a Sancta Clara Abraham a Sancta Clara (born Johann Ulrich Megerle; 2 July 16441 December 1709) was an Augustinian friar. Early life Sancta Clara was born Johann Ulrich Megerle, in Kreenheinstetten, Germany on 2 July 1644. He was described as "a very ecc ...

. This building was rebuilt to fit contemporary taste in the Baroque era and in 1806, and the Kommendenhaus (1839) and parts of the church (1857) had stained glass added during the 19th century. The Order ran into financial trouble after the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and in 1933 had to sell the church and the Johanneshof, and the church was given over to other uses within a historical preservation order. It was bought back in 1960 and restored in stages in 1968, 1972 and 1983–84, finishing with a general restoration in 1998. The church's high altarpiece was painted in 1730 by Johann Georg Schmidt. The balcony type Empire marble pulpit was built during the 1806-08 reconstruction; it is decorated with a Maltese cross, a dove and gilt rosettes.

Gallery

Maltese Church Vienna 01.JPG, Church façade MalteserkircheInnen.jpg, High altar of the Malteserkirche Wien - Malteserkirche, Orgel.JPG, Organ of the Maltese Church Wien Malteserkirche - Valette-Denkmal 1.jpg, Monument for grand master Jean Parisot de la Valette, 1806 Malteserkirche 2013-09-21-05-23-18.jpg, Church interior Wien-Innenstadt, die Malteserkirche, die Kanzel.JPG, Empire pulpit

External links

*
Informationen on the church on the website of the Großpriorat von Österreich
{{Authority control Roman Catholic churches in Vienna Church buildings of the Knights Hospitaller Buildings and structures in Innere Stadt 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Austria