Eisenstadt Cathedral

About

Eisenstadt Cathedral, the Dom Sankt Martin, stands in the Burgenland town of Eisenstadt in eastern Austria and is dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours. Long known simply as St Martin's Church, it was raised to cathedral rank in 1960 with the establishment of the Diocese of Eisenstadt, and has served as the seat of its bishop ever since. Saint Martin is also the patron of both the diocese and the surrounding Burgenland.

A chapel of Saint Martin is first attested here in 1264, when Eisenstadt itself bore variant names meaning 'Little Martin's village' (Kleinmartinsdorf in German, Kismarton in Hungarian). Remains of a Romanesque foundation from that early chapel survive beneath the present choir, which was added in the thirteenth century in early Gothic form, with a lay chapel attached in the fourteenth.

In 1460, under the town captain Johann Siebenhirter, the church was rebuilt as a fortified church in expectation of Ottoman attacks after the fall of Constantinople in 1453. The Gothic structure was completed in 1522; after the great fire of 1589, reconstruction took place between 1610 and 1629.

The cathedral is also a centre of Austrian church music: the 1778 organ was built by the Viennese organ-builder Johann Gottfried Malleck, by tradition to instructions associated with Joseph Haydn, who served the Esterházy court at Eisenstadt. Concerts of the Haydn Festival are still held here. The interior was remodelled in 1960 by Jakob Adelhart, and again in 2003 by Lichtblau-Wagner.

History

The first chapel on the site, dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours, is documented in 1264. The church was rebuilt as a defensive structure in 1460 in anticipation of Ottoman incursion, with the Gothic building completed in 1522; after the fire of 1589 the church was reconstructed between 1610 and 1629. In 1777 a large altarpiece of the Transfiguration of Saint Martin was added by Stefan Dorffmeister, and the Malleck organ was installed the following year, on instructions traditionally associated with Joseph Haydn. The church was raised to the dignity of cathedral in 1960 under the new Diocese of Eisenstadt. Significant interior renovations took place in 1960 and again in 2003, the latter consecrated on 12 April 2003.