St.Martin

The former Spitalskirche in Aigen im Mühlkreis stands south-west of the village centre along the main road. It began as a hospital church founded in 1642–43 by Abbot Martin Greysing of Schlägl to serve as an almshouse. The building probably followed designs by architect Cipriano Novo, with stonework by Hans Getzinger, and was consecrated in 1644. The church is noted for its early Baroque west portal with fluted columns and cherub heads, and its pair of gabled facades. Inside, a small three-bay nave is covered by a barrel vault with lunettes on wall pillars. The marble floor slabs and the barrel-vaulted former sacristy add to the interior’s restrained elegance. The high altar, carved by Johann Worath in 1644, features a painting of an abbot celebrating Mass and side figures of Saints Elisabeth and Klara. A figure of Saint Martin sharing his cloak with a beggar, also by Worath, stands on the north wall. The roof’s 1895–96 onion-domed bell turret and the 1937 removal of the organ gallery mark later changes. The adjacent former hospital, rebuilt in 1977, now houses a modern funeral hall, yet the church itself remains a quiet witness to 17th-century charity and craftsmanship.