Parish church in Windhaag bei Perg

The parish church of Windhaag stands in the centre of the village of Windhaag bei Perg in Upper Austria. It was built between 1685 and 1693 as the church of a Dominican convent that was dissolved in 1782. The building still serves as the parish church for the surrounding villages and occasionally hosts concerts during the Donaufestwochen festival.

The church is worth visiting for its well-preserved baroque interior and its long history. The tower reaches forty-five metres and the nave has six bays. Eleven parish priests have served here since 1784, when the parish was created during the Josephine reforms. The church contains works by Johann Wolfgang Dallinger and a late-gothic Madonna by Hans Leinberger. The remains of seventy-five nuns lie in the lower cloister, and traces of the former convent prison can still be seen.

Inside, visitors enter through the south door into a two-bay porch. From there doors lead to the bell chamber, the lower cloister and the single-aisled nave. The former nun’s choir occupies a west gallery supported by four granite columns. The three-bay sanctuary at the east end is lower and set back, with a straight east wall. The north side of the nave is lined by upper and lower cloisters that were joined to the church after the convent closed.