Saint Bartholomew Church

The Catholic parish church of St Bartholomä stands on the Triebener Tauern ridge in Hohentauern, a village at the head of the Pöls valley in the Mur valley district of Styria. The church, dedicated to the Apostle Bartholomew, belongs to Admont Abbey and the deanery of Admont in the diocese of Graz-Seckau. The church and its surrounding cemetery are listed as historic monuments. The church began as a 14th-century chapel linked to the mother parish of St Lorenzen. A new choir was built around 1490, and the interior was painted with frescoes by the Master of Schöder in 1492. The church became an independent parish in 1892 and was restored in 1956. The interior contains notable works by Josef Thaddäus Stammel, including figures on the high altar and a stolen angel from 1974. The church is a two-aisled hall with a ribbed vault and a raised choir with a five-sided apse. The late-Gothic south door and sacristy survive, and the west tower has a 17th-century onion dome. The cemetery is enclosed by a wall, and the roofs are covered with wooden shingles. Inside, frescoes show the Last Judgement, the Crucifixion, and scenes of Bartholomew and Catherine, while the high altar features expressive figures of Joachim and Anna.