Pfarrkirche Kirchberg am Walde

The parish church of Kirchberg am Walde stands in the eastern part of the village in the Gmünd district of Lower Austria. It is dedicated to Saint John the Baptist and belongs to the Gmünd deanery in the Diocese of St Pölten. The church and its former cemetery are listed monuments. The present building replaced an earlier fortified church first recorded in 1239 under the patronage of Saint Ulrich. Between 1709 and 1713 the new church was erected under Count Johann Leopold Kuefstein with master builder Bartholomäus Hochholdinger and consecrated in 1713. Later renovations took place in 1905 and 1936. The west front is framed by a tall three-storey tower marked 1712, crowned by a doubled onion dome and flanked by statues of Saint Leopold and Saint Florian. Inside, the nave has a barrel vault with lunettes and a two-storey organ gallery on Tuscan columns. The high altar shows the Baptism of Christ and is flanked by side altars with paintings by Matthias Mölck. The pulpit features reliefs of the Evangelists and figures of the Church Fathers. The sacristy holds a bust of Saint Francis Xavier beneath a painted oval.