Day of issue of the commemorative stamp "Elisabeth Mosaic" in the sacred art series

In memory of Empress Elisabeth

The motif from the series "Sacred Art in Austria" displays a mosaic of St. Elisabeth from the St. Francis of Assisi Church on Mexico Square in Vienna.

After the first regulation of the Danube River, the area around present-day Mexico Square in Vienna's Leopoldstadt district quickly became populated. On the 50th anniversary of Emperor Franz Joseph I's ascension to the throne in 1898, a decision was made to build the Emperor Franz Joseph Jubilee Church for this then-new "Donaustadt" area, funded by donations. The distinctive, solid brick building, in neo-Romanesque style, began its construction in 1900 based on plans by Victor Luntz. The church was only consecrated in 1913. In memory of the Empress, who was assassinated in 1898, the Empress Elisabeth Memorial Chapel was established within the church and consecrated as early as 1908.

Compared to the relatively austere design of the main church, this octagonal chapel was lavishly adorned with mosaics and marble, embodying an Art Nouveau masterpiece. Centred on the gallery above the altar is a mosaic medallion of Saint Elisabeth of Thuringia, the namesake of the Empress. The design was crafted by Carl Ederer and executed by the Tyrolean Stained Glass and Mosaic Workshop. The mosaic illustrates the legend of the miracle of the roses: when St. Elisabeth was clandestinely distributing bread to the needy, she was questioned about what she held in her cloth. She responded, "Roses," and indeed, only roses were found within. An inscription next to the medallion, adorned with gold and precious stones, reads: "In devout memory of Empress and Queen Elisabeth".

https://www.erzdioezese-wien.at/pages/pfarren/9015/_chronik 

What? 
Day of issue of the commemorative stamp in the sacred art series, "Elisabeth mosaic"

When? 
6 October 2023, 12:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., presentation at 3:30 p.m.

Where? 
Parish Frances of Assisi, Mexikoplatz 12, 1020 Vienna

Group picture, left to right:
Michael Kreiner, district councillor Markus Kellner, Wilhelm Remes (President, St. Gabriel Philately Association), Patricia Liebermann (Head of Philately at Österreichische Post AG), parish administrator P. Tomasz Domysiewicz OSST, Kirsten Lubach (designer of the commemorative stamp and the special postmark).