St. Georg

The Catholic branch church of St George stands on the main square in Horn, a town in northern Lower Austria. Built in the late 16th century as a Protestant hall church, it later became a Catholic place of worship after the Piarists took charge in 1621. The church is protected by the federal monument authority and shows clear signs of its layered history. The building’s outside mixes late-Gothic lines with later Baroque touches. A richly carved south door from 1680 carries statues of Rosalia, the Holy Family and God the Father. Inside, a four-bay nave under a barrel vault holds a high altar painting of St George dated about 1730 and a side altar with a Black Madonna by Martin Johann Schmidt from 1779. The organ, begun by Anton Pfliegler and finished by his son in 1806, was rebuilt in 2003 with 31 stops. Visitors walk past the steep tower with its pyramid roof and small corner turrets. The tower arch frames a round-headed west door, while a spiral stair in a half-round turret leads to the upper levels. The churchyard contains a late-medieval bell cast in 1483, known as the Margaret bell. Inside, the walls carry painted mirrors framed in terracotta stucco, giving the space a quiet glow.