Linz's Cathedral - Austria

Because of these cards I found out that Linz was the brithplace of Maria Anna of Austria, Queen consort of Portugal. She didn't get to see this beautiful cathedral, the construction started more than one century after her death. 

The building of the New Cathedral, also known as the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Linz was begun in 1855 by Bishop Franz-Josef Rudigier. The first stone was laid in 1862.

In 1924 Bishop Johannes Maria Gföllner consecrated the finished building as the Cathedral of the Virgin Mary. The plans, drawn by the Master Builder of the Archdiocese of Cologne, Vincenz Statz, were made in the French high gothic style.

AT-467457, sent by Anna. 

With 20,000 seats, the cathedral is the largest, but not the highest, church in Austria. The originally-planned, higher spire was not approved, because in Austria-Hungary at the time, no building was allowed to be taller than the South Tower of the St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna. At 135 m, the New Cathedral is two meters shorter than the Viennese cathedral.

© Verlag Kellner

Particularly noteworthy are the cathedral's stained-glass windows. The most famous is the Linz Window, which depicts the history of Linz. The windows also contain portraits of the various sponsors of the church's construction. During the Second World War some windows, particularly in the southern part of the cathedral, have been damaged. Instead of restoring the original windows, they have been replaced with windows displaying modern art. - in: wikipedia