Wilten Basilica (Parish Church of the Immaculate Conception)
Our Lady Under the Four Columns
Innsbruck-Wilten, Tyrol, Austria
1751–1755
Architecture: Franz de Paula Penz (1702–1772), Joseph Stapf [n.d.]; high altar: Joseph Stapf, Franz Karl Fischer (1710–1772); stuccowork: Franz Xaver Feichtmayr the elder (1698–1763, attributed) and Johann Michael Feichtmayr (1696–1772, attributed); frescos: Matthäus Günther (1705–1788)
Ecclesiastical architecture (parish church, papal basilica and pilgrimage church)
Wilten Foundation (under Abbot Norbert I. Bußjäger)
According to the founding legend even Roman legionnaires in Wilten worshipped an image of the Virgin Mary “Under the Four Columns”, and according to records it served as a site of pilgrimage as early as the 13th century. Excavations revealed an original building dating from the early Christian period, a consecration was held in 1311, and in the late 15th century a Gothic vault was inserted. Up until 1643 the building also served as the parish church of Innsbruck. In 1728 the church was refurbished in the Baroque style. Following building damage in 1750 a new building was erected between 1751 and 1756. Interior work was carried out up until the late 18th century.
The architectural character of Wilten parish church is a typical work of Penz, with a clear and simple ground plan, balanced proportions and a harmonious spatial arrangement, all carefully calculated to generate a pleasing prospect. The further development of the scheme of the Innsbruck city parish church resulted in a unification of the spatial image, which in Innsbruck was more clearly characterised by the sequence of bays with cupola-like vaults. While Penz supplied ideas and acted as construction supervisor, the plans originate from the sculptor Joseph Stapf from the Füssen school. The building work was carried out by Matthias and Johann Michael Umhauser.
View Short DescriptionWilten Basilica is considered the most important Rococo ecclesiastical building in North Tyrol, and alongside Gossensaß, the most accomplished of Franz de Paula Penz’s works. The plain building, a two-bay pilaster church with a barely retracted choir surprises with a magnificent prospect composed of finely coordinated architecture, ornamentation and sculptures of great stylistic unity.
Archives, choir arch cartouche with chronogram, “1755”
Exterior, west side
1751–1756
Franz de Paula Penz (1702–1772), Joseph Stapf [n.d.]
The façade, originally planned with bolder mouldings and greater richness, is only distantly related to that of the Innsbruck parish church (since 1964 St. Jacob’s Cathedral). The architectural idea in Wilten is a different one: While at St. Jacob’s the central section between the towers is set back, here a lightly rounded, projecting broken pediment sets column-like accents. These form the framework for the central section with its shallow concave form. United under a tail gable the central section forms the main motif, while in contrast, at the Innsbruck parish church the central section was clearly subordinated to the pair of towers. The statue of the Mary Immaculata and the portal are the work of Joseph Stapf.
View from west to east
1751–1756
The effect generated by the interior in the ideal view from the west is determined by the massive pilasters, which form the support for the pristine semi-circular spans of the double transverse and single longitudinal arches. Their arrangement generates, as is usual for pilaster churches, a coulisse-like prospect, however the room is so short due to the sequence of only three elements (two nave bays and choir) that it almost has the appearance of a central-plan building. The high altar with the miraculous picture, which is situated free-standing in the middle of the choir, thus appears, not as a distant goal, but as quasi the centre of the spatial sequence, especially as the grandeur of its ciborium echoes the four-arched structure of the two-nave bays.
Choir
1751–1756
Franz Karl Fischer (1710–1772); Joseph Stapf [n.d.]
The high altar in the form of a freestanding, four-columned ciborium is the work of Franz Karl Fischer, the son of the master builder Johann Georg Fischer of the Füssen school. The altar, in which in all likelihood the four columns of its predecessor from 1728 have been integrated, was designed by Joseph Stapf. The columns are arranged in a trapezoid form, whereby the two rear columns frame the mensa with tabernacle, and form the rear wall of the structure. Above the tabernacle is a miraculous picture in an aureole, a Gothic Madonna with child. According to records a picture of the Virgin Mary was displayed under four columns in Wilton as early as 1311. The two angel candelabra which flank the altar are works of the late 17th century, presumably from Andreas Faistenberger.
Vault of the west nave bay
1754
Matthäus Günther (1705–1788)
The ceiling frescos in Wilten, which are among the most significant achievements of the Director of the Augsburg Academy, are pictorial worlds executed with virtuosity: heavenly visions open up above grandiose architectural backdrops, which rather than extending the real architecture form part of the visionary event breaking into the space of the church. Like the rhetoric of a Late Baroque preacher, the pictorial content draws a number of references. Here Judith, who presents the head of Holofernes to the people as a symbol of her victory over evil, is interpreted as the precursor of Mary, who at the end of time appears as the “Madonna of the Apocalypse”, the over-comer of all evil. The transcendence of space and time within the picture support this statement.
West nave bay, southeast vault spandrel
1755
Franz Xaver Feichtmayr the elder (1698–1763, attributed) and his brother Johann Michael Feichtmayr (1696–1772, attributed)
The authorship of the excellent stuccowork has not been recorded although, undoubtedly, the master craftsman was a member of the Wessobrunn school. The attribution to Franz Xaver Feichtmayr, possibly with the involvement of his brother Johann Michael, is considered reliable. It is composed of rocaille stucco of the greatest refinement, which in parts has been executed in free sculptural forms and open work. As they ascend, the broad, bold forms in the lower section of the spandrel become increasingly delicate, and against the background of the main fresco dissolve into fragile vegetative tendrils, whose free play of forms also disrupts the symmetry of the cartouche. The rear-view figure in the spandrel fresco is reputedly a self-portrait of Matthäus Günther.
Frodl-Kraft, E., Tiroler Barockkirchen, Innsbruck 1955, p. 43f.
Schnell, H. Schedler, U., Lexikon der Wessobrunner, München, Zürich 1988, p. 86.
Matthäus Günther 1705–1788. Festliches Rokoko für Kirchen, Klöster, Residenzen. Munich 1988, p. 177.
Bayer, K., Franz de Paula Penz, Vienna 1991, pp. 51–3.
Hösch, K., Innsbruck-Wilten. Pfarrkirche Mariae Empfängnis, Passau 2009 (= Peda-Kunstführer Nr. 745).
Frank Purrmann "Wilten Basilica (Parish Church of the Immaculate Conception)" in "Discover Baroque Art", Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://baroqueart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=monument;BAR;at;Mon11;9;en
MWNF Working Number: AT 09