Pfarrkirche Straden

The Pfarrkirche Straden stands in the market town of Straden in the south-east of Styria. It is a Roman Catholic parish church dedicated to the Assumption of Mary and belongs to the deanery of Radkersburg in the diocese of Graz-Seckau. The building is protected as a listed monument. The church’s history goes back to at least 1188, when the first parish priest Henricus de Merin is recorded. After a fire in 1460 the church was rebuilt between 1469 and 1472 by the Order of St George. Baroque additions followed between 1700 and 1702. The roof and upper tower were destroyed in 1945 and restored in 1947. The church also contains a late Gothic organ loft from the 18th century and a 1760 organ by Ferdinand Schwarz. The interior features a high altar with a late Gothic Madonna figure from about 1520 and a pulpit carved by Matthias Leitner around 1769. The late Gothic tower on the north side of the choir carries a 1771 onion dome. Outside, parts of the old defensive wall survive, including a 2.20-metre-high stretch with arrow slits. A 1521 niche and a 1758 Pietà figure stand in the churchyard, which also holds the late Gothic chapel of St Sebastian.