Mariä Himmelfahrt

The late-Gothic parish church of Maria Pulst stands on the southern slope of the Glan valley in the hamlet of Pulst, part of Liebenfels municipality. Its dedication to the Assumption of Mary places it under the deanery of St Veit an der Glan in the Gurk-Klagenfurt diocese. Both the church and the adjoining ossuary are listed monuments. In 1263 Duke Ulrich III granted the patronage to the Knights Hospitaller, making Pulst an incorporated parish of the Order, later passed to the Knights of Malta. The nave, built in the 15th and early 16th centuries, is covered by a net-ribbed vault. A west tower shelters a vaulted porch with an iron-bound door. The three-bay nave has a north-side pointed arch portal and a south-side late-Gothic chapel. At the east end a five-sided choir with star-ribbed vault completes the plan. Inside, the high altar by Johann Georg Hittinger carries a painting of the Virgin of Mercy. Simple Baroque side altars depict the beheading of John the Baptist and the martyrdom of St Sebastian. A 1731–32 crucifix altar by Johann Pacher occupies the south chapel. Fragments of 15th-century frescoes show the Adoration of the Magi and scenes from the Turkish wars dated 1579.