Pfarrkirche

The Roman Catholic parish church in Oberweiden stands in the village centre of Oberweiden in the Marchfeld region of Lower Austria. It is dedicated to Saint Leopold and has been protected as a listed monument for decades. Originally a fortified church, it once had a cemetery around it before the village grew around it. The church’s origins go back before 1300, when a vicariate was already established. The Gothic choir and nave were built in the 14th century, and the parish is first recorded in 1345. In 1656 the parish was formally set up and placed under the authority of Melk Abbey. A century and a half later the church was remodelled in the Baroque style. The tower received its onion dome in 1802, and in 1869 the nave was extended by one bay to the west. The exterior shows a plain façade with a small gabled porch at the west end and a stairway to the gallery on the south side. The Gothic choir, slightly offset, is supported by strong buttresses and filled with Gothic lancet windows, one of which on the east side is now walled up. The massive tower on the north side of the choir still contains Romanesque core masonry, while its upper part has Baroque sound openings and the onion dome. Inside, the four-bay nave is covered by a Baroque cross vault with keystones resting on sturdy wall pillars. The simple organ loft is also vaulted, while the Gothic choir has a ribbed vault ending in a five-sided apse. The former sacristy in the tower base now serves as the baptismal chapel, housing a 1616 font and a 1695 holy-water basin.