Pfarrkirche St Marein im Lavanttal

The parish church of St Marein stands on a gentle rise at the edge of the village of St Marein in the Lavant valley. A walled cemetery surrounds the building, giving it a quiet, elevated setting. The church is dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary and has served the community since the 9th century. Its long history is visible in the fabric of the church. The present late-Gothic hall church was largely rebuilt after Turkish raids in 1480. Later, in the early Baroque and Historicist periods, the interior and exterior were remodelled. The twin towers, crowned with 19th-century onion domes, flank the first choir bay, while the south porch shows rich tracery and a carved tympanum from around 1500. Inside, the nave is covered by a net-ribbed vault on octagonal piers. The high altar of the late 17th century shelters a Madonna and Child, flanked by statues of St Joseph and St Joachim. A late-Gothic stone pulpit with twisted stair and tracery parapet stands against a nave pillar, its panels filled with Baroque figures of the Church Fathers. The side chapels contain an early 16th-century Lourdes grotto and a rosary altar with painted panels and medallions. Outside, medieval and Roman spolia are set into the walls, including a dancing maenad and a life-tree relief.