Pfarrkirche in St Nikolai

The parish church of Gorentschach stands in the hamlet of St Nikolai, part of the municipality of Ruden in Carinthia. It is a modest building dedicated to St Nicholas. The church first appears in records when the estate of Gorensing and its chapel were given to St Paul’s Abbey in the Lavanttal in 1091. Later it passed to Griffen Abbey and then to St Agnes near Völkermarkt. Only in the 1780s did it become an independent parish. The church is small and plain, with a Gothic tower on the south side of the choir. The belfry has twin windows with rich profiles and is topped by a steep spire. A bell cast in 1705 by Anton Cosmatschin still hangs in the tower. Above the round-arched west door is a stone coat of arms dated 1642. In 1827 the nave was lengthened westward and given a flat ceiling. The west gallery, rebuilt in 2010, can be reached by an outside stair on the south side. A round-arched triumphal arch links the nave to the barrel-vaulted baroque choir, which ends in three eighths of a circle. The sacristy, on the ground floor of the tower, has a ribbed cross vault. Inside, the high altar from the early 19th century shows the parish saint in its central niche. Between the columns stand statues of St Peter and St Paul, while above the side doors are St John and St Sebastian. In the upper niche the figure of St Agnes floats on a cloud. To the sides are statues of St Florian and St Lawrence on pedestals. The left side altar has a carved Man of Sorrows in its niche, flanked by St Bartholomew and an unnamed saint, and above them St Barbara is accompanied by St Catherine and St Veronica. The right side altar, made between 1720 and 1730, bears a painting of the Virgin being taught to read and an upper group showing the Trinity.