Birth of Mary (Our Lady)
The Roman Catholic parish church of the Birth of the Virgin Mary in Unserfrau in Lower Austria is part of the Gmünd deanery . The parish elevation of Unserfrau, which previously belonged to the parish Altweitra , is documented from the year 1340 . The originally Romanesque choir tower church was expanded in the 14th century with a Gothic choir and between 1694 and 1698 with baroque aisles and a south tower. The church and the cemetery adjoining it to the south with the originally Romanesque chapel and a round arched cemetery gate with gable attachments from around 1500 are under monument protection .
Exterior
The Gothic nave and the five-bay, outer aisles with galleries from 1694 to 1698 are combined under a gable roof . The facade is structured by arched windows and pilaster strips . The simple west facade has shell niches and a portal porch probably dating from the 17th century under a volute gable with a scratch-plaster structure . North of the two-bay, Gothic choir from the 14th century, a two-storey baroque sacristy and oratory was built between 1694 and 1698 . The baroque tower on the south side with a square floor plan dates from the same period. On the north side of the tower remains of the wall of the former Romanesque choir tower are preserved. The tower has arched windows , a pilaster structure in the plaster and an onion helmet . The Gothic choir has a five-eighth end with stepped buttresses and two-lane tracery windows .
Interior
The five-aisled nave consists of a three-aisled Gothic hall and two Baroque side aisles. The originally Romanesque hall was converted into a three-aisled, five-bay hall after 1400. The eastern yokes are shorter than the others. The ribbed vault rests on slender eight-sided pillars with transom plates and neck rings as well as on stepped, profiled consoles . The round keystones are painted with flowers, handcraft symbols and word syllables ( Mary help us out of misery ). The Gothic, three-axis organ gallery is vaulted under ribs and rests on consoles and eight-sided pillars. The hall is opened by baroque arched arcades on square, sloping pillars and simple, baroque arched arcades with wooden balustrades to the groin-vaulted side aisles and flat-roofed galleries. The pointed, chamfered triumphal arch from the 14th century was created through the extension of a presumably Romanesque predecessor.
The Gothic, two-bay, cross-rib vaulted choir with five-eighth closure was built between the middle and second half of the 14th century. Between the pinnacles it has a seating niche with a serrated arch, an originally painted sacrament house dated 1525 and a three-sided tabernacle niche with a tracery crown, coat of arms and pinnacle. Adjacent to the north is the baroque sacristy with a two-bay groin vault and a Gothic parament cabinet .
Furnishing
The baroque high altar has a free-standing altar table and a classicist tabernacle marked 1787 between two adoring angels. The side altar dates from the second quarter of the 18th century . It has a stucco structure with volute supports, lateral war trophies and paraments in the stucco, an altarpiece of Saint Stephen from the third quarter of the 17th century, in the top a stucco relief of the stoning of Saint Stephen and side reliefs of Saints Leonhard and Johannes Nepomuk . On the broad pulpit from around 1700 there is a relief cycle of the life of Mary, which was probably created in the third quarter of the 18th century, and an oil painting Good Shepherd from the 18th century. Figures of evangelists and the Ekklesia are attached to the sound cover .
The church organ has a case by Franz Jüstl from 1840.
Further furnishings include a Gothic carved figure of Saint Mary with child from around 1440, a portrait of Christ on the scourge column from the 18th century in a glass shrine, Baroque carved figures of Saints Sebastian and Florian , a Romanesque baptismal font on a cube-shaped base, a late Gothic one Wooden sacrificial cane with iron fittings, baroque choir stalls with acanthus attachments from around 1720 and pictures of the Stations of the Cross in rococo frames from 1786.
The bell was cast by Ferdinand Vötterlechner in 1761.
literature
- DEHIO Lower Austria north of the Danube . Berger, Vienna 2010, ISBN 978-3-85028-395-3 , pp. 1192f.
Web links
- Entry on the birth of the Virgin Mary in the Austria Forum (chapter sacred buildings)
- Description of the church on the website of the community of Unserfrau-Altweitra.
Coordinates: 48 ° 43 ′ 25.3 " N , 14 ° 53 ′ 53.8" E