Church complex Zweikirchen
The church complex Zweikirchen in the village of the same name in the municipality of Liebenfels in Carinthia is surrounded by a cemetery and consists of the parish church and the branch church to the south of it. The fourth mass is celebrated in Zweikirchen as part of the four-mountain run .
history
The name Zweikirchen was first mentioned in 1158, so there must have been two churches back then. Both were owned by aristocratic landlords. In 1256 one of them was given to the Mahrenberg nunnery in the Lower Styrian Drautal. As a result, the monastery and the Hardegg rule shared patronage over the two churches.
Parish church
Building
The parish church " John the Baptist ", mentioned for the first time in 1233 , is a Gothic building in Baroque style, the nave walls of which probably have a Romanesque core. The tower south of the choir with round-arched baroque sound openings was built in 1584, the pointed helmet over keel arched gables was added in the third quarter of the 19th century. One bell was cast by Peter Pfinzing in 1503, another in 1636 by Georg Seisser. In the outer wall there are some spoilies from the Roman era: a niche portrait tombstone with busts of a married couple with a child, a fragment of a male bust from a medallion tombstone , a relief representation of a lictor and a relief plate with maenads and genii at the grape harvest. In front of the church is the torso of a female grave statuette and a pyramid attachment from a grave altar with a kantharos flanking panthers and dolphins.
The church is entered through a simple Gothic west portal. The single nave nave has a baroque flat ceiling with a ceiling painting from 1738 showing the coronation of Mary . The organ gallery dates from the first half of the 18th century. A flat arched triumphal arch connects the nave with the choir. A net ridge vault with decorative plaster ribs from the first half of the 16th century spans the one-yoke choir with a 3/8 end. A grooved Gothic portal leads into the sacristy on the tower ground floor. The window openings in the choir and nave are from the Baroque era.
Facility
The high altar with carved antependium was made around 1740. In the central niche there is a baptismal group . Above in the altarpiece the head of John is depicted. The statues of Saints Florian and Rochus stand above the sacrificial passage portals . From the wall block of the high altar comes one of the most beautiful early medieval barrier plates in Carinthia, which depicts eagles and rosettes in wickerwork. It is now on the south wall.
The sculptures on the left side altar from around 1740 depict Maria, her parents Anna and Joachim, and St. Nepomuk on the altarpiece .
The right side altar is from the beginning of the 18th century. The altar sheet added later shows the death of Joseph . Parts of the late Baroque pulpit were used for the antependium of the popular altar . On it you can see, among other things, the painted representation of Salvator mundi. A late baroque man of sorrows stands in a niche on the left triumphal arch. The grave slab of Gregor Fachauer, who died in 1626, and the heraldic grave slab of Maria Sidona von Wagenstorff and Hardegg, who died in 1640, are worth mentioning.
Branch church
The branch church, first mentioned in a document in 1256, is consecrated to St. Stephen . The small building with a turret has Romanesque, Gothic and Baroque style elements. During an exterior restoration in 1993/94, the church was covered with stone slabs and the baroque architectural polychromy was restored. The church, with a Gothic west portal, consists of a flat-roofed nave and a recessed square choir with cross vaults. The altar with columned retable from the end of the 17th century shows the stoning of St. Stephen in the middle picture. The church patron is also shown on the antependium and as a sculpture on the altar table. The church also houses statues of the princes of the apostles Peter and Paul and a crucifixion group . Roman finds, such as part of a coffered ceiling of a grave building and a relief beam with an animal frieze, are walled in on the church's outer wall.
literature
- Dehio manual. The art monuments of Austria. Carinthia . Anton Schroll, Vienna 2001, ISBN 3-7031-0712-X , p. 1103 f.
- Wilhelm Wadl: The four-mountain run. History - meaning - process . Verlag Johannes Heyn, Klagenfurt 2003, ISBN 3-7084-0011-9 , p. 20.
Web links
Coordinates: 46 ° 42 ′ 43.2 ″ N , 14 ° 15 ′ 50.9 ″ E