Church ruins of St. Cecilia

The church ruin of St Cäcilia stands between Böheimkirchen and Pyhra in the hamlet of Perersdorf, a few hundred metres from the West Autobahn. Built in the 14th century, it preserves traces of earlier work from the 1250s and 1260s. The site is protected as an official monument. Records from 1280 mention the church, and in 1388 the parish priest of Pyhra agreed with Abbot Wolfgang of Göttweig to hold weekly masses in honour of St Cäcilia. In 1530 the monastery sold the estate to Wilhelm Greiss zu Wald, whose gravestone now lies in Pyhra church. After Turkish raids in 1683 the building was partly rebuilt, then baroquised in the following century. In 1805 French troops finished its destruction. The nave stretches 27 metres, the chancel 6 metres across, and the 30-metre tower still rises above the fields. A small vaulted sacristy survives on the south side, and fragments of the old graveyard can still be seen around the walls. The ruin offers a quiet place to walk among the remnants of medieval life.