Pfarrkirche hl. Bartholomäus Bad Großpertholz

The Roman Catholic parish church of St Bartholomäus and Thomas stands above the market square in Bad Großpertholz, on a ledge of ground. Originally built in the Romanesque style, it was altered in 1691 and again between 1776 and 1779, when the western tower was given its Baroque form. The church has been protected as a listed monument since the 20th century and belongs to the Gmünd deanery in the diocese of St Pölten. First mentioned in records in 1358, the parish was dissolved in 1544 and re-established in 1690. Inside, the broad three-bay nave shows clear signs of its Baroque remodelling. The ceiling is a wooden barrel vault added in 1776–1779, with lunettes above windows that probably date from 1691. The organ loft, dating from about 1770–1780, received an instrument by Franz Hillebrandt in 1789. The strongly recessed chancel arch bears the date 1728, while the choir itself, originally Romanesque, has a plain barrel vault. To the south, the Romanesque Thomaskapelle still preserves its semicircular apse and a ribbed vault likely from the 14th century. The high altar, with a free-standing mensa and tabernacle, holds a framed image of Our Lady of Perpetual Help from the first half of the 19th century. Behind it hangs a painting of St Bartholomäus by Ludwig Tily from 1883, flanked by carved angels from the late 18th century. The side altars, from the mid-18th century, are decorated with marbled scrollwork. A classical-style pulpit from about 1800 is adorned with a relief of the Miraculous Draught of Fishes. The church also contains a granite Baroque font, a holy-water stoup on an octagonal shaft, Stations of the Cross reliefs from 1882, and several statues and paintings from the 18th and 19th centuries.