Pfarrkirche hl. Nikolaus, Steinbichl

The Catholic parish church of St Nicholas stands in Steinbichl, a village in the Frauenstein municipality of Carinthia. The small church, dedicated to the fourth-century bishop of Myra, belongs to the deanery of St Veit an der Glan in the Gurk-Klagenfurt diocese. Both church and cemetery are listed monuments. The building began as a Romanesque structure with early Gothic additions, later enlarged in the late Gothic style. A tall tower rises on the south side, its corners marked by dressed stone and capped by a steep pyramid roof. Inside, the nave’s ribbed vault dates from the early 16th century, while the two-bay choir has a net-ribbed vault from the mid-15th century. Frescoes and painted tracery survive on the walls, including a 1533 St Christopher bearing the coat of arms of the Kaltenhauser family. The high altar and a side altar were carved around 1770–80, with the second side altar dating to 1719. The organ case is dated 1670. The churchyard surrounds the building, its headstones set among mature linden and chestnut trees.