The history of the church began with foreigners - barefoot Franciscan brothers who came to Vienna from Italy in the early thirteenth century at the invitation of the Austrian Duke Leopold VI. It was founded in 1276 by a foreigner, the Czech Otakar II Przemysl. The church was built in the French style, and it belongs to the Italian Congregation from the end of the XVIII century, which gave it a second name - the Virgin Mary of the Snows. Throughout the history of the church it has been rebuilt many times, giving the building features of different styles of architecture.→