Stadtpfarrkirche Zistersdorf

The Stadtpfarrkirche Kreuzerhöhung stands in the centre of Zistersdorf, a town in the Gänserndorf district of Lower Austria. Built between 1627 and 1640 as a Counter-Reformation monastery church, it was commissioned by Rudolf Freiherr von Teuffenbach. The church has belonged to Zwettl Abbey since 1811 and its tower was added in 1880 to designs by architect Hermann von Riewel. The church is a large Baroque structure with a tall north front marked by giant pilasters and a richly projecting cornice. Its plain rectangular doorway and round-headed windows sit beneath a crowning segmental pediment. Inside, the nave has high lunette windows and forms part of the former monastery complex. The north-east tower rises with a polygonal bell chamber and round-arched louvres. Outside, two Baroque statues of Saints Nicholas and Florian stand on pedestals in front of the church. The high altar from the early 18th century features a deep niche with a monumental Crucifixion group flanked by Franciscan saints. The side altars in the transept, dating from 1750, are richly decorated wall structures with fluted pilasters and elaborate cornices. Their altarpieces were painted by Bartolomeo Altomonte, showing the death of Saint Joseph and Saint Anne teaching the Virgin. The organ has sixteen stops.