Saint Ulrich of Augsburg Church

The Catholic parish church of St Ulrich stands high on the edge of the Upper Heidenberg ridge above the village of Höflein in Lower Austria. Its white walls and red roof are visible for many kilometres across the Marchfeld plain. The church belongs to the Carnuntum pastoral area and the Bruck an der Leitha deanery under the Vienna archdiocese. A fortified cemetery wall of rough stone surrounds the building, and inside the wall fragments of earlier Roman and medieval stones are set into the masonry. The church began as a chapel of Petronell-Carnuntum around 1100 and passed to Göttweig Abbey early in the 12th century. After damage in the Turkish wars it was rebuilt after 1683 and reshaped in the 18th century with rich Baroque fittings. The tower top was restored in 1947–48, and in the 1960s the roof and ceiling were renewed. The high altar, made in the early 1700s, carries a painting of St Ulrich by Lena Wallerin and statues of four local saints. A new mechanical organ by Pius Erler replaced the war-damaged instrument in 2025. It has 24 registers spread over two manuals and pedal, with a free-standing console facing the altar. Four bronze bells cast in 1948 ring from the tower, and the church’s interior shows layers of Roman spolia, medieval fabric and Baroque decoration against a plain whitewash.