Pfarre St. Florian

The parish church of St. Florian in Margareten has a long history in Vienna. Up until the second half of the 20^th century it uniquely stood as an island church in the middle of the Wiedner Haupstraße in the Laurenzergrund section of Margareten. The pictures of that are really cool. In one of the few questionable urban planning decisions Vienna has made, they decided to eliminate the island church and tear it down at the time they unfortunately put the public transit on the Wiedner Hauptstraße underground. The good news from this decision is that at its new location they hired the renowned German ecclesiastical architect — Rudolf Schwarz — to construct a super interesting modern St. Florian’s. The interior of the church is a colorful burst of stained glass and natural wood that envelopes you upon entry. It certainly does emit the wow factor.
St. Florian’s is also the first church in Austria to be designated as a youth church so there is always something going on here. But you can visit just to give it a look for its cool architecture. And just think if this innovative edifice had stayed an island church in the Wiedner Hauptstraße, how yet more impressive it would be!