St Charles Church, Vienna · Travel Poster

Each poster comes with a letter home and Ella writes about the place, its hidden history, and the detail that never makes it into the guide books.

Emperor Charles VI made this vow in 1713, while plague tore through Vienna and half the city fled: if it ended, he would build a church. It did, and he kept his word, dedicating it to Charles Borromeo, the patron saint of plague sufferers, and staying in the city himself when he could easily have run. The dome fresco above the altar still shows Borromeo pleading for mercy on the city's behalf. There's a glass lift inside now, installed for restoration work and never taken back out, that carries visitors thirty two metres up to stand eye level with the whole thing.

This poster is an original illustration in watercolour and ink, painted for the Ella's Adventures travel poster series. Part of a series of Vienna Travel art, available as Travel Posters (with a history letter) and matching postcards.

No frame included.