Kirche St Johann bei Wolfsberg

The Filialkirche St. Johann stands in Wolfsberg, Carinthia, under the patronage of John the Baptist. It was founded in the late 11th or early 12th century and became an independent parish before 1218. The church was last recorded as a parish in 1784. Its Romanesque west tower and nave walls survive, with a slightly recessed late-Gothic choir. The tower has twin arcades in Gothic and Baroque styles and an octagonal spire. A 19th-century portico shelters the west door, above which a sgraffito shows John the Baptist. Beside the main door a Roman-era inscribed stone is built into the wall. Inside, a 1557 tombstone and a 1727 heraldic slab mark notable graves. Medieval wall paintings survive in fragments, including one of Saint Margaret with her attribute. The neogothic high altar of 1908 shows a carved Crucifixion group and painted wings depicting the preaching and baptism of Christ. A side-altar incorporates a Roman inscription to M. Longinius Verus and Porcia Ritumara. Paintings, a crucifix and life-size statues of both saints named John date from the 17th and 19th centuries. The nave is covered by a late-Gothic star-ribbed vault, while the choir has a parallel-ribbed vault on similar shafts.