Karlskirche

Karlskirche tickets: which one to buy

The ticket is moderate and includes the museum room and, most importantly, the panoramic lift that carries visitors up into the dome to a platform beside the frescoes, a few metres from the paintwork; that access is the reason to pay and is unusual anywhere. A steep ladder continues to a higher lantern gallery for those who want it. Vivaldi concerts in period dress are staged in the nave several evenings a week and sold separately;

the church is where Vivaldi's burial ground once lay, which the promoters mention often. Combined tickets are not sold, and the Vienna Pass includes entry. Booking is unnecessary except for concerts. The church stands on Karlsplatz, on the metro, with a long reflecting pool in front that appears in most photographs. Entry is free during mass. The church belongs to a religious order rather than the archdiocese, which is why it charges admission when most Vienna churches do not.

Visiting Karlskirche: what to see

Charles VI vowed the church in 1713, after the last great plague epidemic in Vienna, to his name saint Charles Borromeo, who was venerated as a healer of plague victims. Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach won the competition and produced the strangest and most confident facade in Austria: a Greek temple portico between two columns modelled on Trajan's Column in Rome, carved with scenes from the saint's life, flanked by two low pavilions in the Roman baroque manner, with a green dome behind.

It reads as a summary of every architecture the Habsburgs wanted to claim. Inside, the oval nave is bright and comparatively plain, and everything leads to the dome fresco by Johann Michael Rottmayr, an Assumption of St Charles painted between 1725 and 1730, which the lift now lets you inspect at arm's length. The effect of seeing a baroque ceiling from six metres away is genuinely disorienting. The two columns are hollow and contain staircases, though neither is open to the public, and their reliefs spiral upwards exactly as on Trajan's original.

Karlskirche opening hours and the best time to go

Open daily with shorter hours on Sundays because of services; the lift stops running before the church closes, so arrive with time to spare. The lift is occasionally out of service during restoration work, and when it is, the ticket price drops. Karlsplatz is a busy interchange and the church is never quiet outside, but the interior rarely feels crowded.

Vienna's summer brings the Popfest and other events to the square, and the Advent market in December is one of the prettier ones. Dress modestly. Photography is allowed. Allow forty-five minutes with the lift. The Wien Museum and the Secession building are both within five minutes on foot, and the Naschmarkt is a short walk west. The reflecting pool in front, with a Henry Moore sculpture at one end, is the classic viewpoint and is busiest at sunset.