Pfarrkirche Feldkirchen bei Graz

The Roman Catholic parish church of Feldkirchen bei Graz stands in the market town of Feldkirchen, a few kilometres west of the city. It is dedicated to Saint John the Baptist and belongs to the Graz-West deanery within the Diocese of Graz-Seckau. The building has been protected as a national monument since the 20th century.

The church’s origins go back to the 12th century, making it the oldest parish church in the Grazer Feld. After a Turkish raid in 1532 it was rebuilt in 1545, and the tower was raised and given its onion dome in the 18th century. Inside, the late-Gothic choir and the ribbed vaults of the nave show medieval craftsmanship. Roman masonry from the 2nd century was uncovered during a 1970s restoration and re-used in the south wall.

Visitors enter a three-bay nave whose walls still contain parts of the original Romanesque structure. The tower, set slightly forward of the west front, rises through five storeys to an ornate onion spire. On the north side of the choir the sacristy leads up to a small oratory above. The high altar of the late 18th century holds a painting of the Baptism of Christ dated 1846, while side altars and a free-standing marble tabernacle date from the 18th and 20th centuries. The late-17th-century pulpit was dismantled and reassembled as the ambo and people’s altar after the restoration.