Die Jesuiten in Wien

The uneven historical path of Vienna`s university quarter clearly provides a legitimate - and at the same time necessary - reason for re-evaluating the contribution of the Jesuits to the city`s intellectual life. That is hardly surprising, given the close geographical proximity between the Academy of Sciences and Jesuits` College. "The Jesuits in Vienna" attempts to investigate salient aspects of the contributions of the Society of Jesus in terms of history and art history in the 17th and 18th century, a period when Vienna was the undisputed centre of the order`s Austrian chapter. The Jesuits had first arrived in Vienna in 1551 and were soon active in promoting missionary and cultural activities. Owing to its close connections with the Imperial House, the Society of Jesus assumed an eminently political role in the Hapsburg dynasty`s long and persistent efforts to enforce the Counter-Reformation. By the time the order was dissolved in 1773 it had already achieved a dominant position in the field of higher education and, through its extensive preaching and missionary activities, exerted a major influence on the intellectual spirit of the times. This alone is more than enough reason to justify heightened interest across the academic divides in the Society of Jesus, since the Jesuits left their mark in a wide variety of fields including theatre, the natural sciences, philosophy, the visual arts, architecture and teaching theory and practice. In addition, the significance of the Jesuit order can also be gauged from a territorial perspective. In this sense, Vienna was at the centre of the order`s Austrian chapter, which at the time of its dissolution in 1773 comprised Upper and Lower Austria, Styria, Carinthia, the Slovenian Krajnsko, Croatia, Slavonia, Hungary as well as Slovakia and Transylvania. Such "internationality" provides the rationale behind the book`s intention to present a joint cultural heritage of Central Europe through the eyes of many reputable experts both within and outside Austria.