Pfarrkirche hl. Georg, Nötsch

The Catholic parish church of St George stands in the village of St Georgen in the Gail valley, in the Austrian province of Kärnten. A walled cemetery surrounds the building, which belongs to the diocese of Gurk-Klagenfurt and is dedicated to Saints George and John the Baptist. A small church stood on the site as early as 1212, but the present structure dates from 1512. The church’s exterior is painted pale white with light-brown masonry accents along the edges. On the west front, faded frescoes of Saint Christopher survive from the 14th and 15th centuries. Inside, a pointed, late-Gothic west portal leads to a wooden gallery reached by a staircase. The nave and choir both have ribbed vaulting with small lunettes and medallions of saints. A restored fragment of a fresco shows Christ blessing on the north wall. The high altar of 1720 is a four-columned Baroque structure topped by a painting of Saint Benedict. In its central shrine is a carved figure of Saint George on horseback, slaying the dragon, flanked by statues of Saints Peter and Paul. The left side altar holds a polychrome Heart-of-Jesus statue, while the right side altar features a Madonna and a carved hermit with a staff, bell and pig. A painted epitaph remembers Anna Freiin von Teuffenbach’s father and brother. The cemetery just north of the porch contains the grave of the painter Anton Mahringer under an iron cross.