The church built on a promise

This one started as a bargain with God, more or less. In 1713, plague was ripping through Vienna and half the city was fleeing. Emperor Charles VI stayed, and he made a vow: if the plague ended, he'd build a church. It ended. He built the church.

He dedicated it to Charles Borromeo, the patron saint of plague sufferers, and the dome above the altar still shows Borromeo pleading on the city's behalf, painted across more than a thousand square metres of ceiling. Here's the part I love: there's a glass lift inside now, put in temporarily for restoration work in 2002 and never taken back out because visitors kept asking for it. It carries you thirty two metres up, right to eye level with the whole fresco.

I painted it in watercolour and ink, all that Baroque grandeur that started with a promise made in a panic. There's a poster and a postcard, both with a letter home if you'd like one.

Shop the poster here: St Charles Church, Vienna · Travel Poster