Pfarrkirche St. Laurenz, Hernstein

The Catholic parish church of St Lawrence stands in the centre of Hernstein, a small market town in the Baden district of Lower Austria. The church is dedicated to the third-century Roman martyr and belongs to the Pottenstein deanery under the Vienna Woods vicariate of the Archdiocese of Vienna. Both the church and its adjoining cemetery are listed as historic monuments. The church first appears in records in 1170, when a parish was mentioned alongside Hernstein Castle. From 1445 until the monastery was dissolved in 1786 the church was attached to Neuberg Abbey. Heavy damage in the sieges of 1529, 1532 and 1683 led to repairs in 1772 and the addition of a sacristy with oratory in 1771. The tower was built in 1822, and the interior was renovated in 1956–66. External restorations followed in 1976–77 and 1998. The late-Gothic nave has a narrow five-sided choir and a two-storey sacristy on the north side. A south chapel, once a separate aisle, contains a round-arched Romanesque window. The west tower rises to a pointed spire. Inside, the high-altar area holds a 1958–65 pastiche of older works, including a round tabernacle from the early 19th century topped by a 17th-century crucifix. A figure of the Virgin and Child from about 1500 and an overscultpted Apostle figure flank the space. The churchyard contains medieval grave slabs carved with crosses and foliage motifs.