Pfarrkirche Ferschnitz

The Catholic parish church of St Sixtus stands on rising ground at the southern edge of Ferschnitz, a small market town in the Amstetten district of Lower Austria. Built to serve a parish first recorded in 1334, it was rebuilt around 1575 under Reichart Strein of Schwarzenau and later restored in 1965. The church is one of the few surviving former Protestant patronal churches in the region.

Its architecture combines a three-aisled basilica with a massive late-Renaissance west tower and a late-Gothic choir from about 1499. A gated courtyard surrounds the building, its entrance marked by a gable portal crowned by a terracotta coat of arms dated 1615. Inside, the high altar rises as a three-part wall structure with white-polished statues carved between 1757 and 1770 by Kaspar Timpf.

Visitors find the high altar’s central panel showing the beheading of St Sixtus, painted by Martin Johann Schmidt in 1770. Statues of Sts Joseph and Leopold flank the scene, while the 1931 organ by the Mauracher brothers fills the loft with sound. The church’s late-Gothic choir and late-Renaissance tower stand together under the watchful gaze of the surrounding Kirchhofmauer.