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How did the 1713 plague influence the construction of the Karlskirche?

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The construction of the Karlskirche (Church of St. Charles Borromeo) was directly influenced by the 1713 plague as the fulfillment of a religious vow made by Emperor Charles VI.12

The Emperor commissioned the architect Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach to build the church as an offering to his patron saint, St. Charles Borromeo, in recognition of the saint's intercession in saving Vienna from the epidemic.12

Beyond its function as a votive offering, the building served as a monument to the Emperor’s own imperial grandeur. Fischer von Erlach designed the church with a complex iconographic program that glorified the life of St. Charles Borromeo, most notably through two giant triumphal columns decorated with spiral reliefs depicting the saint's life. These columns also served a dual symbolic purpose, alluding to the Emperor’s personal emblem, the "pillars of Hercules".21