Saint John the Baptist Church

The parish church of Perwang stands in the village of Perwang am Grabensee in Upper Austria’s Braunau district. It is dedicated to Saint John the Baptist and belongs to the Mattighofen deanery in the Diocese of Linz. The church and its adjoining cemetery are protected as historic monuments. A Gothic church was founded before 1473 by the Nopping family. The choir dates from about 1470 and the nave from about 1510. In 1668–1679 the nave was extended by one bay and the tower raised with an octagonal upper section. A sacristy was added in 1679, and the interior was restored in 1959. The choir is narrow and low, with two bays and a net-ribbed vault ending in a three-eighths closure. The single-aisled nave has four bays under a similar net-ribbed vault and a west tower topped by an octagonal section and a pointed spire. Inside, the high altar and side altars from 1846 display paintings by Josef Rattensperger. The classical-style pulpit comes from the first half of the 19th century, and the left side altar holds a late-15th-century Gothic statue of Saint Leonard.