Pfarrkirche Kötschach

The parish church of Kötschach stands in the village of Kötschach-Mauthen in the Gail valley of southern Austria. A late-Gothic building with a single nave and a five-sided choir, it is known locally as the ‘Gailtal Cathedral’ after its size and importance. The massive west tower, built from red Laaser sandstone, rises above the entrance and carries a slender octagonal spire. The church is worth visiting for its layered history and fine craftsmanship. Begun in 1518 by master mason Bartlmä Firtaler, it reused parts of an earlier 15th-century church. The Servites from Maria Luggau cared for the parish from 1712 until 1981. Inside, the Gothic vaulting, Baroque altarpieces and painted frescoes show the work of several generations of artists, including Johann Michael Strickner and Christoph Brandstätter the Elder. Visitors enter through a richly moulded west portal and step into a hall vaulted with net ribs. The three-aisled nave is almost as high as the choir, yet the southern aisle is narrower and simpler, recalling the earlier building. The high altar of 1833 holds a Black Madonna, flanked by life-size statues of the four Latin Fathers. The rood screen bears a painted crucifixion by Strickner, while the side altars display scenes of the Rosary and Saint Anthony receiving the Christ Child. In the choir, late-medieval frescoes depict the life of the Virgin, and the sacristy door shows the coat of arms of Joachim Mögeli.