Suspected Arson at Holy Spirit Church in Vienna

Case information
Incident date
Country
Austria
Place
Wien
Categories
  • Social Hostility / Intolerance
Attack Against
  • Faith
Perpetrator / Motive Indicators
  • Private
Hate Crime & Violent Incidents
  • Arson
  • Vandalism (all)
Religious Freedom / Discrimination
  • Other (text field)
Place of Incident
  • Church
Bias Indicators
  • Significance of Property/Structure/Location to religious community
  • Victim/Witness Perception
Reported to Police
  • Yes
Response of Local Authorities
  • Investigated
Symbolic image; not a photograph of the reported incident.Image credit: Kilian Seiler on Unsplash

The Holy Spirit Church in Vienna has to be completely renovated due to heavy sooting after a fire on January 9th. According to the Archdiocese of Vienna, the "fire event", reported to the police, could have been an arson attack. A box of cushions was burning, which caused a lot of soot. "We suspect that the cushions were set on fire. There are no candles near the scene of the fire and people usually don not smoke in a church." Michael Prüller, spokesman for the Archdiocese of Vienna stated. The church will remain closed indefinitely.

"The Holy Spirit Church is listed as the oldest reinforced concrete church in Austria. For this reason alone something special."