Mariä Himmelfahrt

The Roman Catholic parish church of Altpölla stands on a small hill in the western part of the village in the municipality of Pölla, in Lower Austria’s Waldviertel region. It is dedicated to the Assumption of Mary and belongs to the Horn deanery in the diocese of St Pölten. The building is one of the oldest parish churches in the area and combines a Romanesque core with later Gothic additions. Protected as a listed monument, it shows how medieval styles evolved over centuries. The church’s history can be traced through its fabric. A Romanesque east-tower church was built in two phases before and around the middle of the 12th century. Around 1300 a southern chapel with a crypt was added. The Gothic choir dates from the second third of the 14th century. After Hussite raids in the mid-15th century the north aisle and sacristy were rebuilt and a new south aisle was constructed, marked 1467. In 1898 a neo-Gothic bell tower was added, followed in 1906 by a north-side stair turret. The fabric was restored between 1951 and 1954. Inside, the nave mixes Romanesque and Gothic elements. The original flat ceiling was replaced in the mid-15th century by a three-bay ribbed vault with carved bosses. At the east end the Romanesque choir square leads to a two-bay Gothic choir with five-sided closure, its ribs springing from chamfered capitals. Three bosses depict the Lamb of God, the sun and the moon. The south chapel, now part of the south aisle, contains a 14th-century fresco of St Martin’s cloak. The high altar of 1906 shows the Assumption flanked by statues of St Leopold, St Catherine and St Barbara. The oldest bell, a 320 kg Septim from the late 13th century, still hangs in the tower.