Otto Wagner Kirche am Steinhof

The Kirche am Steinhof on a hilltop in the western edge of Vienna is Otto Wagner's Jugendstil masterpiece and one of Europe's great early-modern churches. Completed in 1907 for the patients of the Steinhof psychiatric hospital, it was the first church in the world built with full attention to hygiene, light, and the needs of mental-health patients.

The copper dome was originally fully gilded; the white marble facade is studded with bronze rivets. Inside, the spare interior glows with stained glass by Koloman Moser. The church is now part of a hospital but is open to visitors. Bus 48A from Burggasse.

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A story
Otto Wagner designed the Steinhof church between 1903 and 1907 as part of a psychiatric hospital — a radical commission for the time. The white marble facade, gilded copper dome, and saintly statues by Othmar Schimkowitz mark the high point of Viennese Jugendstil architecture, and Wagner insisted on patient-friendly details (rounded pew corners, easy-to-clean surfaces) inside.