Pfarrkirche St. Michael ob der Gurk

The parish church of St Michael stands high above the village of St Michael ob der Gurk in the municipality of Poggersdorf. Its tall west tower with pointed sound openings and spire rises above a stone-tiled roof. The churchyard wall and the adjoining charnel house are protected monuments. The building mixes Gothic and Baroque styles. A Baroque porch from the early 17th century shelters the west door, whose 1627 keystone bears the coat of arms of Probst Gentilotti of Völkermarkt. Inside, a delicate late-Gothic ribbed vault crowns the two-bay nave, while the two-bay choir has a net-vault on corbels. The high altar carries a central figure of the archangel Michael flanked by statues of Saints Sebastian and Rochus, with Saint Stephen above. Beside the church stands the charnel house, a round Romanesque structure under a shingle roof. Its flat-ceilinged interior holds an altar and a crypt beneath. A faded late-Gothic fresco of Saint Christopher survives on the south wall of the church. The whole ensemble overlooks the surrounding countryside from its elevated site.