Pfarrkirche Hll. Johannes der Täufer und Johannes Evangelista (Pongauer Dom)

The Roman Catholic parish church of St John stands at 616 metres above sea level in the centre of St Johann im Pongau, a town in the Salzburg region. It is dedicated to Saints John the Baptist and John the Evangelist and belongs to the deanery of St Johann im Pongau within the Archdiocese of Salzburg. The building has been protected as a historic monument since the 19th century. First mentioned in an archbishop’s charter of 924, the church has been rebuilt several times. A fire in 1855 destroyed the old market and the medieval church, leading to the present neogothic design. The Munich architect Georg Schneider drew up plans for a three-aisled church with a tall tower, but the tower collapsed in 1871. Josef Wessicken then designed the current twin-towered façade, completed between 1873 and 1876, with two towers each sixty-two metres high. Inside, the high altar of 1881 resembles a gothic shrine with three canopied niches. Figures of Saints Joseph and John the Baptist flank a crucifixion scene, while the central niche frames a stained-glass window showing Christ as Saviour of the World. The left side altar, dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary, dates from 1885, and the right side altar honours the Immaculate Conception of Mary.