Priests' Seminary

 

 

Huge, austere, dignified – that's the impression you get on entering the courtyard of the Seminary, the largest in the city centre. On commission of the Jesuits, Vinzenz de Verda started to built a college in 1572 which today is one of the most important examples of Jesuit architecture in Austria. After the order had been dissolved in 1773, the building was used for different purposes. As a school, as prison, as administration building, as barracks. Today it houses mainly church institutions and, in a way, is a monastery again. As a seminary it serves young men to prepare for priesthood.