Pfarrkirche Haindorf

The Catholic parish church of Saints Peter and Paul stands on a rise above the village of Haindorf in the market town of Markersdorf-Haindorf, St Pölten district, Lower Austria. Built for the Stift Göttweig, it belongs to the deanery of Melk in the diocese of St Pölten. The church and its surrounding cemetery are listed monuments.

The church began as a Romanesque building and became a parish between 1220 and 1297. After fires in 1683 and 1741 it was rebuilt in Baroque style, then incorporated into Stift Göttweig in 1784. Inside, Andreas Rudroff painted ceiling and wall frescoes between 1794 and 1800. The high altar, made by Johann Peter Tornier in the early 18th century, carries a 1755 volute gable with the Eye of God and a 1758 altarpiece by Martin Johann Schmidt.

The churchyard holds a tall two-storey tower raised between 1755 and 1787, topped by a 1778 onion dome. A monumental crucifix by Veit Schmidt stands south of the choir, and a stone war memorial with an eagle dates from about 1919. In the western porch a Roman grave gable from the 2nd century displays a woman’s portrait bust and a frieze of animals gnawing trees.