Pfarrkirche Kirchbach (Gailtal)

The parish church of Kirchbach in the Gail valley stands beside the road in the heart of the village. Built in 1508 and enlarged in the 18th century, it is a modest single-aisled hall with a three-bay nave and a narrower choir ending in three sides. A sacristy joins the south side between nave and choir, while the north side carries a tower capped by a baroque onion dome and lantern. Inside, the nave is covered by a flat barrel vault with lunettes, and the west gallery projects slightly forward, its underside rich in late-baroque stucco. The church holds three altars made between 1650 and 1700. The high altar shows Saint Martin dividing his cloak, flanked by statues of the plague saints Sebastian and Rochus. The left altar carries a picture of the Immaculate Conception, the right one the Trinity with Saint Anne and a carved group of Michael overcoming Satan. The pulpit of 1773–74 depicts the Good Shepherd, and the late-gothic font bears a later baptism group. Late-baroque Stations of the Cross line the walls. Outside, the south-east cemetery gate carries a 1474 fresco of Saint Martin with beggars beneath angels holding a mitre, while the south-west gate shows a Lamentation of Christ from about 1700. Beside the vicarage stands a 1572–73 sundial whose dial is shaped like a leaping ram.