Pfarrkirche St. Antonius

The Pfarrkirche St. Antonius stands in Linz’s Scharlinz district at the busy crossroads of Wiener Straße and Salzburger Straße. Built between 1980 and 1981, it replaced a temporary church that had served since 1935. The earlier Seelsorgestelle Scharlinz, designed by city building director Kurt Kühne, never progressed beyond the parish hall. That hall became the parish’s makeshift place of worship for decades until the new building arrived.

The church’s significance lies in its response to Linz’s 19th-century industrial growth and the rising population of Scharlinz. In 1929 parish priest Josef Hollnsteiner received the task of creating a local church, and a building association formed the same year. After the Second World War bombing damage in 1944–45, the temporary hall was repaired and continued in use until the present steel-and-concrete structure opened in 1981. Bishop Franz Zauner consecrated the new church on 12 September 1981.

Visitors find a rectangular plot softened by a small green space between the buildings and the road. The paved forecourt holds the church and parish house linked by a covered passage that carries the bell tower. Inside, an octagonal nave rises beneath a four-sided lantern capped by a cross. Horizontal bands of windows and fibrocement friezes divide the concrete skeleton, leaving brick infill and glued-laminated timber roofing exposed. The altar and font are faced with Mühlviertler granite, and a 1963 Wilhelm Zika organ with eleven stops and mechanical action stands at the rear.