Vischer was born in Wenns (Tyrol). Despite his clerical vocation, geography and topographical surveys were Vischer's true calling. On behalf of nobility and clergy he compiled maps and created engravings and drawings of more than 1000 cities, castles, manors, abbeys and cloisters in the regions of Lower Austria, Upper Austria, Upper Styria, Lower Styria, Moravia and Hungary. In most cases Vischer's engravings are amongst the oldest preserved depictions of these structures. He is regarded as one of the most important Austrian cartographers and topographers of his time.[1] He died, aged 68, in Linz (Upper Austria).