Salzburg’s cathedral—rebuilt in an early Baroque idiom under Prince-Archbishops and designed by Santino Solari—was consecrated, helping establish a major Austrian center for Italian-influenced Baroque church architecture north of the Alps.
Fischer von Erlach’s centrally planned Dreifaltigkeitskirche was consecrated while still unfinished, signaling Salzburg’s turn toward dynamic Baroque spatial planning and façade design.
The University Church (Kollegienkirche), designed by Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach, was completed and dedicated—an influential Salzburg Baroque landmark noted for its bold massing and convex façade.
Work began on Vienna’s Karlskirche, founded under Emperor Charles VI and designed by Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach (continued after his death by his son). The church became a major statement of Habsburg Baroque piety and imperial imagery.
The Würzburg Residence—among the defining monumental palaces of the south German Baroque—was commissioned and begun in the 1720s under the Schönborn prince-bishops, with Balthasar Neumann as principal architect.
Dominikus Zimmermann’s pilgrimage church at Steinhausen (St. Peter and Paul) was begun (and built to 1733), an important step toward the airy, ornamental southern German Rococo that grew out of late Baroque traditions.
The great Baroque rebuilding campaign at Melk Abbey under architect Jakob Prandtauer reached completion (1702–1736), creating one of Austria’s most prominent monastic Baroque ensembles overlooking the Danube.
Construction began on the abbey church of Ottobeuren (1737–1766). Although its completion extends beyond 1750, the project exemplifies the late-Baroque ecclesiastical building boom in southern Germany.
After more than two decades of construction, Karlskirche was consecrated, marking the completion of one of Austria’s most influential high-Baroque church projects.
Balthasar Neumann’s celebrated pilgrimage church at Vierzehnheiligen began construction (1743–1772). Its interlocking oval forms and animated interior space became emblematic of late Baroque and Rococo spatial experimentation in Franconia.
At the Wies (near Steingaden), Dominikus Zimmermann received a commission for a new pilgrimage church; planning and early steps toward construction in the mid-1740s led to one of the best-known Rococo interiors emerging from the south German Baroque tradition.
The main construction phase of the Würzburg Residence reached completion (often dated to 1744), setting the stage for subsequent interior campaigns that made it a benchmark of German Baroque palace design.
The official laying of the foundation stone for the Pilgrimage Church of Wies took place (retrospectively dated) in 1746, formalizing the construction of the church whose completed interior would become a defining expression of Bavarian Rococo.
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (assisted by Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo) executed the vast ceiling fresco over the Würzburg Residence’s grand staircase in 1752–1753, a culminating moment in the international decorative programs of south German Baroque courts.
Baroque architecture in Southern Germany and Austria (1600–1750)
