Filialkirche Sarmingstein

The Filialkirche Sarmingstein stands in the small village of Sarmingstein, part of the municipality of St. Nikola an der Donau in Upper Austria. It is a modest Roman Catholic church dedicated to Saint Kilian, set beside the Danube where the Strudengau narrows. The building has been under official protection as a listed monument for many decades. The church’s history reaches back to the 12th century, when it may have served as the first home of an Augustinian monastery founded in 1147. Originally dedicated to Saint John the Baptist, it later became a joint parish with nearby St. Nikola before the parish seat moved entirely in the 14th century. In the early 18th century the church was remodelled in the Baroque style by the local nobleman Johann Jodok Ployer. A new west tower was added in 1913, and both exterior and interior restorations took place during the 20th century. Inside, the ceiling painting shows Saint Nicholas and a view of Sarmingstein painted by Andreas Strickner in 1901. On either side of the chancel arch stand two large memorials for Johann Jodok Ployer and his wife Maria Barbara. The church’s simple rectangular nave and lower, square choir rest under plain pitched roofs built in the 19th century. The stone walls still preserve traces of their original Romanesque form.