Parish Church of St. Stefan an der Gail

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Sankt Stefan im Gailtal Parish Church of Saint Stephen 25092011 511.jpg
Organ gallery: Stoning of Stephen
Choir
Right side altar: The two Johannes

The parish church of St. Stefan an der Gail is located in the village of the same name on a small hill north of the Gail . According to tradition, a bishop Theodoric is said to have built his own church here as early as 800 . St. Stefan was first mentioned as a parish in 1275.

Building description

The sacred building is a medium-sized late Gothic staggered hall church . The tower on the north side of the choir with wall slits and pointed arched sound windows is crowned by a pointed gable helmet. To the south of the choir is a two-storey sacristy extension with late Gothic square windows. There is a baroque chapel annex on the north and south sides of the nave . The choir is supported by three-edged buttresses , the south side of the nave by a single stepped buttress. The life-size stone head walled into the gable of the west wall is either of Celtic or medieval origin. A crucifix from around 1600 hangs on the north wall of the nave . There are ogival portals on the north and west sides. The west portal is protected by a renewed pillar porch and has a richly carved door.

A ribbed vault with round and square keystones rises above the three-aisled, four-bay nave over octagonal supports. The large gallery with the center swinging back and the side parts swinging forward takes up two bays and is two-storey in the west bay. The paintings on the organ parapet from the middle of the 18th century show the martyrdoms of Saints Stephen , Laurentius and Barbara as well as the depiction of the two Johannes. In the north wall of the eastern yoke, an ogival fluted entrance leads into a side chapel, the early baroque vaults of which have stitched caps and a stucco circular field. On the opposite side, a round arched opening provides access to the transverse rectangular south chapel with bevelled corners. In this flat-vaulted chapel, the walls are structured with stucco frame fields. A pointed arched fluted triumphal arch connects the nave and the three-bay choir with a three-eighth end. The choir is lower than the nave and is about the width of the central nave. In the choir, a ribbed vault with round, painted coats of arms rests on semicircular templates. On the north side of the choir there is the pointed arched beveled portal to the tower, on the south side of the choir a similar portal with a late Gothic iron-studded door leads into the sacristy. Above is the segmental arched window of the oratory . Of the five lancet windows in the choir, the two-part middle one has preserved the original tracery . The windows in the two western nave bays are arranged on two floors: baroque round arches below and ogival arches above. The north chapel has a pointed arch window, the south chapel baroque arched windows. The glazing of the windows was renewed around 1900 and 1936 respectively.

The vaulted areas of the choir have early baroque tendril decorations and show half-figures of apostles and other saints from the end of the 15th century in retracted quatrefoil medallions . A baroque Last Judgment can be seen on the triumphal arch on the side of the choir .

Facility

In the middle of the high altar , made around 1730, there is a relief with the stoning of St. Stephen and above it a relief with the martyrdom of St. Laurence. The two reliefs originally come from a late Gothic winged altar from the beginning of the 16th century. The baroque carved figure in the top represents God the Father . The statues of Saints John Nepomuk and Ignatius von Loyola stand above the sacrificial passages . The doors of the sacrificial passages are painted with Our Lady and Saint Joseph . There are four rococo candlesticks on the altar hall .

The pictures of the two wall altars in the choir, created around 1720, show Francis of Assisi on the left and the plague saints Sebastian and Rochus on the right .

The two side altars in the nave date from around 1760. The left one bears a late Gothic carved Virgin Mary, flanked by the statues of Saints Joachim and Anna . The right side altar contains the sculptures of the two Johns in the middle niche, surrounded by a holy monk with a book and by Antonius of Padua . The figure in the essay shows St. Florian , flanked by St. Agnes and Notburga .

The middle picture of the altar in the north chapel shows the martyrdom of St. Barbara, the top picture shows St. Mary Magdalene . The cross altar built around 1780/1790 in the south chapel with heavy column architecture in gray-white marbling is crowned by a canopy.

The pulpit dates from the first quarter of the 18th century. The paintings on the pulpit show the church fathers Augustine , Gregory and Hieronymus . The back wall is a painting of the Last Supper . The sound cover with the representation of an angel blowing a trumpet in a cartouche is crowned by a monstrance .

The coat of arms tombstone of Cristoff von Aichelburg from 1540 is walled in in the south chapel.

literature

  • Dehio manual. The art monuments of Austria. Carinthia . Anton Schroll, Vienna 2001, ISBN 3-7031-0712-X , p. 825 f.
  • Barbara Kienzl : The baroque pulpits in Carinthia. Publishing house of the Kärntner Landesarchiv, Klagenfurt 1986, ISBN 3-900531-16-1 , p. 379.

Web links

Commons : Saint Stephen Church (Sankt Stefan im Gailtal)  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 46 ° 36 '58.1 "  N , 13 ° 30' 59.8"  E