Filialkirche Schottwien

The Catholic filial church of St Veit stands in the middle of Schottwien, a market town on the main road through Lower Austria. Built of stone, it replaced an earlier wooden church destroyed by flood in 1266. The present building grew over centuries, beginning with the 14th-century choir and the 1415 Karner topped by the Michaelskapelle. The church is worth visiting for its layered history and the figures behind it. Hans Lindner paid for the Michaelskapelle in 1415, and the late-medieval additions were guided by the parish’s changing status after the 1783 reforms. In 1846 fire gutted the interior, but reconstruction began at once. Prince Johann II of Liechtenstein funded the major 1889–92 renovation, which gave the church its current neogothic tower and exposed stonework. Inside, the neogothic furnishings and stained glass date from the 1890 work. The high altar covers the Walsegg family crypt, used between 1720 and 1827, where Mozart’s Requiem was commissioned. A marble relief portrait of Joseph Leopold Walsegg marks his resting place in the choir wall. The organ by Johann M. Kauffmann, built in 1882, still serves the congregation. Outside, the west tower rises above the nave, and the Michaelskapelle leans slightly off the main axis.