Martin-Luther-Kirche

Martin-Luther-Kirche stands in Linz as an Evangelical Lutheran church with a late-classicist nave and a spacious forecourt. Johann Rueff designed the building, constructed between 1841 and 1844 for the growing Protestant community. The church serves as the main church of the Evangelical Superintendentur A. B. Oberösterreich.

Construction followed Austria’s 1781 Toleranzpatent, though Linz applications faced rejection between 1826 and 1838. Building began in March 1842, stopped after six days, and resumed in August 1843 after further approval. The congregation became independent in January 1850, while the parish and school house rose beside the church from 1849. A square-based, octagonal neo-Gothic tower followed between 1854 and 1862, carrying three consecrated bells and a golden cross donated by women of the congregation.

Inside, Franz Xaver Bobleter’s 1844 altar painting accompanies an organ installed by Rowan West in 2006. Baroque music, services, concerts, and cultural events give the instrument a continuing role in Linz. Three exterior memorial plaques list wartime deaths, with the years 1914, 1918, 1939, and 1945 carved into the monument. The redesigned church square now extends across about 2,000 square metres, making the setback from the road especially visible.