Parish Church of St. Stephan (Braunau)

City parish church St. Stephan

The Roman Catholic parish church of St. Stephan is a landmark of the city of Braunau am Inn and with its 87 m high tower has one of the highest church towers in Austria.

Typologically, the building follows the tradition of the Landshut building school and, in terms of the vaulting, is related to or exemplary for the St. John's Church in Dingolfing , the Heilig Geist Spitalkirche in Landshut or the St. Nikolaus parish church in Eggenfelden . The floor plan of the nave again shows the influence of Landshut Martinskirche .

Building history

The guild and handicraft church Sankt Stephan was built between 1439 and 1466. Before (1238) there was already a chapel there. The Braunau parish church is one of the most important late Gothic church buildings in Austria, its original design has been completely preserved. The main builder was Stephan Krumenauer († 1461). The builders were the city's guilds . The late Gothic three-aisled hall church has two rows of six side chapels each, donated by the guilds. All but one chapel were partially or completely redesigned in Baroque style, only the baker's chapel has been preserved in the Gothic style, as the bakers' guild lacked money. The artistic net vault of the church is attributed in the art historical literature to the master craftsman Hans Wechselberger and accordingly also referred to as Wechselberger figuration . although this was not the first master to use this figuration.

The foundation stone for the Sankt Stephan church tower was laid in 1492. The lower six floors of the tower are Gothic. 1635–1646 the upper floor was added. The octagonal tower and the baroque helmet were built in 1745–1759.

Until 1779, St. Stephan was a member of the Ranshofen monastery , after which it became an independent parish.

Dimensions

Interior with altar

Length without tower: 60 m
Length with tower: 67 m
Width: 25 m
Main nave height: 20 m
Height of the tower: 87 m

The tower of the Braunau parish church is often incorrectly referred to as the third tallest church tower in Austria. The three tallest church towers in Austria are in Vienna ( St. Stephen's Cathedral ), Linz ( Mary Conception Cathedral ) and Graz ( Herz-Jesu-Kirche ). The height of the steeple of the Braunau parish church is repeatedly incorrectly stated as 96 or even 99 m, which is due to a calculation error in the 19th century, which (also in the specialist literature, for example in the church guide listed below under "Literature") is accepted unchecked. According to the Braunau land surveying office, the correct height of the tower is 87 m.

organ

View of the organ

The main organ of the parish church was built in 1995 by Metzler Orgelbau . The slider chest instrument has 46 stops on three manuals and a pedal .

I Rückpositiv C – f ³
Dumped	8th'
Quintads	8th'
Principal	4 ′
Reed flute	4 ′
Sesquialter II	2 ² ⁄ ₃  ′
Octav	2 ′
Quint	1 ¹ ⁄ ₂  ′
Sharp IV	1'
Krummhorn	8th'
Tremulant

II Hauptwerk C – f ³
Drone	16 ′
Principal	8th'
Hollow flute	8th'
Dumped	8th'
Octav	4 ′
Pointed flute	4 ′
Quint	3 ′
Super octave	2 ′
third	1 ³ ⁄ ₅  ′
Mixture IV-V	2 ′
Cimbel III-IV	1'
Cornet V	8th'
bassoon	16 ′
Trumpet	8th'
Clarin	4 ′
Tremulant

III Oberwerk C – f ³
Principal	8th'
Second and Principal	8th'
Reed flute	8th'
Octav	4 ′
Night horn	4 ′
Nasat	3 ′
Super octave	2 ′
Forest flute	2 ′
third	1 ³ ⁄ ₅  ′
Mixture V-VI	1 ¹ ⁄ ₂  ′
Trumpet	16 ′
Trumpet	8th'
Vox humana	8th'
Tremulant