2026Saint Dominic - 800 Years of the Dominicans in Vienna - Set

To celebrate ”800 years of the Vienna Dominican Convent”, this year’s stamp in the “Religious art in Austria” series shows an initial letter from a valuable medieval manuscript.

The Dominican order was founded in 1216 by St Dominic as an order of preachers to proclaim the Catholic faith. The order quickly spread throughout the whole of Europe. In 1226, Duke Leopold VI of Austria and Styria summoned the Dominican order to Vienna and founded a monastery in the Postgasse, where the convent still stands today. The first monastery church was consecrated in 1237, followed by today’s Baroque church in 1634, which was improved over the following decades and subsequently elevated to the status of Basilica minor in 1927. The Dominican monastery in Vienna is one of the order’s educational establishments: the friars are dedicated to spreading the faith, to pastoral care, to theological and philosophical research and teaching and to adult education and spiritual guidance.

The stamp to celebrate this special anniversary is decorated with an initial from the so-called Heuner-Missale, Cod. 415/212. This missal in two volumes dating from 1476/1477 was donated to the monastery by the Viennese citizen Stephan Heuner. It is housed in the monastery’s manuscript library and is enhanced by elaborately designed and executed initials, floral decorations and ornamentation. The design on the stamp shows the order’s founder, St Dominic, while in the background what are probably the medieval Gothic Viennese Dominican Church and the city wall can be seen.