Maria Schnee, Irenental

The small Roman Catholic parish church of Maria Schnee stands on a gentle rise in Irenental, a village within the market town of Tullnerbach in the St Pölten district of Lower Austria. It belongs to the Purkersdorf deanery under the Vienna archdiocese and looks northwards across the settlement. A low, many-sided apse closes the simple rectangular nave, while a tower rises from the southern side. Built in 1900–01, the church was restored inside in 1974 and outside in 1976. Inside, the nave and choir are covered by barrel vaults, and the apse has a shallow dome. The stained glass, made by the Mayer’sche Hofkunstanstalt in 1901, depicts the Annunciation and Coronation of the Virgin, Saint Francis de Sales, and another saint, with the Archangel Michael and Saint Aloysius in the choir. A stone altar carries a small tempietto, and side altars hold Nazarene paintings of the Sacred Heart and Saint Joseph with the Child. The interior fittings date largely from the time of construction. A baroque crucifix hangs on the rood beam, and the floor is laid with tiles from the Teplitz Chamotte Factory. The organ, housed in a late-baroque case, was moved here in 1906 from either Rodaun parish church or the former chapel of Alt-Erla castle. A white marble statue of the Sacred Heart stands beside the church, carved around 1900.