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The Church of St. Leopold, better known as the Kirche am Steinhof (or the Otto Wagner Kirche am Steinhof) was built during the construction of the Steinhof Psychiatric Hospital, from 1904 to 1907. When drafting his plans for the building, the commissioned architect, Otto Wagner, respected the church’s role as the institutional chapel for mentally ill patients and consulted with doctors and nurses concerning the specific requirements of such a building. On October 8th, 1907, the church was opened by [[Archduke Franz Ferdinand]]. The Archduke and Wagner were at odds on a variety of issues, not least on the overall design of the church. The former had disapproved of Wagner’s art nouveau style from the very beginning; so much so, in fact, that he refused to acknowledge Wagner during the opening ceremony or to commission any other work from the architect. But opinions regarding Wagner’s unusual design were varied. In an [http://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=nfp&datum=19071006&seite=13 article] published in the New Free Press on October 6th, 1907, the author rhetorically asked: “And is it not a beautiful irony of fate, that the first sensible secessionist building in Vienna has been built for the insane?”
Steinhof church was selected as a main motif of one of the most famous euro collectors coins: the Austrian 100 euro [[Euro gold and silver commemorative coins (Austria)#2005 coinage|Steinhof Church commemorative coin]], minted on November 9, 2005. The obverse gives an angled perspective view of the left-side and main door of the building.▼
The most recent, and most extensive, restoration project began in June 2000.<ref>{{cite web|title=Otto Wagner Kirche- Phases of Restoration (German)|url=http://www.wienkav.at/kav/texte_anzeigen.asp?ID=6788|website=KAV|accessdate=12 July 2016}}</ref>All told, 22 construction companies and 15 consultants worked on the restoration. Their first undertaking was to completely re-gild the exterior dome using 2 kg of .01mm-thin sheets of gold leaf. The base of the dome was renewed with copper sheets that, prior to their placement within the church, were artificially patinated.
Between 2002 to 2004, the entire 1,800 square-meter façade was replaced, fashioned from 3000 plates of Carrara marble, each tile having been examined by ultrasound to ensure quality. The angelic and holy figures were removed and transported to a workshop where they were restored. Construction began on the interior of the church in 2005. Among other projects, each of the mosaic windowpanes were glazed and remounted in a specially designed support structure. The windows, which have been valued at 5 million Euro, are now better protected from the elements and vandalism. The mosaics within the church, the main altar, and the pulpit were restored and newly gilded. Trained wood restorers polished and improved the pews and confessionals, and the chandeliers, sconces, and wall decorations were cleaned and gilded, as well.
While the interior renovations were ongoing, the foundation of the church also had to be remade, along with the drainage system and the exterior base. The plasterboard ceiling was also rebuilt. About half of the original 2,200 plaster tiles were salvageable, the rest were replaced. After the renovations were complete, a wheelchair-accessible entrance was added on the north side of the church.
The church was finally reopened on October 1st, 2006.
▲Prior to its reopening, Steinhof church was selected as a main motif of one of the most famous euro collectors coins: the Austrian 100 euro [[Euro gold and silver commemorative coins (Austria)#2005 coinage|Steinhof Church commemorative coin]], minted on November 9, 2005. The obverse gives an angled perspective view of the left-side and main door of the building.
==References==
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