Stephanshart parish church
The Stephanshart parish church , also known as the Machland Cathedral , is visible from afar in a dominant position on the highest elevation of the village of Stephanshart in the market town of Ardagger in the Amstetten district in Lower Austria . The Roman Catholic parish church consecrated to Saint Stephen belongs to the Amstetten deanery in the diocese of St. Pölten .
history
The first church was founded in the beginning of the 11th century by the diocese of Passau and was documented as a vicariate of the Ardagger monastery in 1140 . Protestant from 1560, it was re-Catholicized in the 17th century. Independent parish with 1784.
Since the old church, which dates back to the 12th century, had become dilapidated due to landslides and was officially closed, it was decided to build a new one. From 1956 to 1959 a new church was built according to the plans of the architects Franz Barnath and Josef Gruber.
On the left eastern outer wall there is a heavily weathered Romanesque priest's tombstone.
architecture
The church is a monumental structure made of reinforced concrete with staggered cubic components and a set and pre-built soaring east tower.
The interior of the church shows a square hall of considerable height with segmented arched wall parts as a support structure with artificial stone panel decoration to shallow niches of the same height and to the stage-like staggered rectangular choir. The flat barrel vaults are strongly cased, the hall is flooded with light with three to five-part wall glazing.
The choir wall shows a sgraffito Glorie des St. Stephanus by Robert Herfert , who also created the modern Stations of the Cross.
Furnishing
Robert Herfert designed the uniform facility while preserving individual objects from the former parish church.
The high altar has a tabernacle with an enamel design. Above it hangs a bronze crucifix from 1970. In the front choir area there are baroque statues Peter, Johannes and Mercy Seat as well as Leonhard and Florian from the first half of the 18th century, the figures Barbara and Katharina are from the 17th century.
High-quality side altar paintings from the circle of Martin Johann Schmidt from the second half of the 18th century show the crucifixion and the descent from the cross.
An organ by the Mauracher brothers from 1935 was rebuilt in 1960 by Gregor Hradetzky . The Olympic organ (built in 1964) from Wilten Abbey has been in the church since 2007 ; it has more than 3,100 pipes. Paulus from Freistadt names a bell in 1573.
literature
- Church leader Stephanshart, Christian Art Sites Austria, No. 389, Verlag St. Peter Erzabtei Salzburg, 2002.
- The art monuments of Austria. Dehio Lower Austria south of the Danube 2003 . Ardagger, Stephanshart, parish church St. Stephen. P. 79.
- Otmar Lowitzer: Church Buildings in Austria 1945–1970. Vienna 2007. p. 63.
Web links
Coordinates: 48 ° 9 ′ 28.7 ″ N , 14 ° 49 ′ 0.3 ″ E