Messkapelle Hl. Johannes Nepomuk, St. Peter, Graz

The Messkapelle Hl. Johannes Nepomuk stands in the Graz district of Petersbergen, near the city boundary with Hart bei Graz. It is a single-aisled Roman Catholic chapel built in the mid-19th century. The building sits on a rectangular plan with a three-eighths apse and a southwest-facing tower. The chapel was erected in 1841 by Johann Firpas and restored in 1967. Inside, a stone altar holds a statue of St John of Nepomuk, donated in 1767 by Franziska von Fraydenegg of nearby Schloss Reinthal. Above the entrance is an organ loft whose balustrade shows painted figures of Saints Peter and Paul from the early 19th century. The walls also display an 18th-century painting of the Virgin with several saints. Visitors enter through a round-arched portal in the tower risalto. The chapel’s interior is lit by small round-arched windows, and the altar niche is framed by two angel figures flanking the tabernacle. The tower’s copper-clad dome and shingle-clad upper walls rise above the surrounding meadows, marking the spot where the city’s eastern edge meets the countryside.