The church Maria vom Siege is a historicist building in the 15th district of Vienna, Fünfhaus, not far from the Westbahnhof station. It is a dark brick building with a very large, central cupola that is easily spotted from the Gloriette hill of Schloss Schönbrunn Palace.
The name "Maria vom Siege" ("Mary of the Victory") is derived from a painting that depicts a nativity scene. It was damaged in the 30-Years-War by Protestant troops. Imperial Catholic units had carried the painting into battle and when they were victorious, the Imperial forces donated money towards the construction of a church in Rome. This became "Santa Maria della Vittoria", the model for the church Maria vom Siege in Vienna.
The Viennese Maria vom Siege church was designed by Friedrich Schmidt, the architect who has also designed buildings like the Rathaus city hall or the Akademisches Gymnasium. Friedrich Schmidt was a popular architect of the Ringstraßen-Style, recycling styles of various periods in decorative elements on buildings. Maria vom Siege was built between 1868 and 1875 on a site that had previously been mostly agricultural lands. The area of Fünfhas had become a prospering working-class suburb with a rapidly increasing population and needed a bigger church.
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