Parish church St. Laurentius

The Catholic parish church of St Lawrence stands on the northern side of the church square in Ybbs an der Donau, a town in the Melk district of Lower Austria. The church is dedicated to Saint Lawrence of Rome and belongs to the Ybbs deanery in the Diocese of St Pölten. It has held listed-monument status since the 1990s. Its first mention in records dates from around 1200, and the parish itself was established between 1250 and 1260. The present nave began as a Romanesque predecessor in that spot. In 1466 the Viennese cathedral master builder Laurenz Spenning was commissioned to vault the late-Gothic church. A multi-storey tower from the former Ybbs castle was later converted into the choir. The churchyard once lay south of the building until 1771. External restoration took place in 1992 and internal work in 1997. The late-Gothic hall church has a rectangular choir and a west tower set in front. A Baroque entrance wall connects the church to the neighbouring house in Kirchengasse. The exterior shows late-Gothic windows with tracery and buttresses, a pointed portal with carved figures, and a polygonal stair turret. Inside, the Baroque furnishings include a high altar of 1722, a richly decorated pulpit from about 1730, and an organ built by Bartholomäus Heintzler between 1723 and 1725. A plaque recalls Mozart’s visit in 1767. The church also contains several bells, the oldest dating from 1726.