Arbesthal Pfarrkirche Johannes der Taeufer

The parish church of Arbesthal stands on a gentle rise in the southern part of the village, within the municipality of Göttlesbrunn-Arbesthal. It is dedicated to Saint John the Baptist and belongs to the Bruck an der Leitha deanery. The church occupies the site of the former manor house of the Lords of Arweiztal. A chapel here was first recorded in 1248 as a branch of Bruck an der Leitha. A resident priest appears in documents from 1308, showing the site’s long religious significance. The building combines different periods of architecture. The square choir base is Romanesque, dating from the first half of the 13th century. The nave was rebuilt in the 14th century using rubble masonry on the old Romanesque foundations. A tall Gothic choir tower was added above the choir base. In the mid-17th century the choir and nave were vaulted uniformly and the tower heightened. The baroque ridge cross carries the date 1659 and the name Elisabeta Sterwizin. Inside, the high altar from 1713 is a curved column and pilaster retable with a broken pediment. It holds statues of Saints Peter and Paul and a painting of the Baptism of Christ dated 1765. The organ case is neobaroque, built by Anton Schönhofer in 1908 for the Diamond Jubilee of Emperor Franz Joseph I. The churchyard is enclosed by a stone wall, and the Romanesque choir base still shows the massive ashlar blocks of the former castle chapel.