Pfarrkirche Mariae Himmelfahrt, Prottes

The Catholic parish church of the Assumption stands at the southern edge of Prottes, a village in the Gänserndorf district of Lower Austria. Built under the patronage of the Assumption of Mary, it belongs to the deanery of Gänserndorf and is protected as a listed monument. The churchyard once held a cemetery that surrounded the original building. The church began as a Romanesque structure in the early 13th century, with a Gothic choir added in the mid-15th century. In the 18th century a Baroque church was built across it, altering the layout significantly. The parish itself was established in 1783 and placed under the authority of Melk Abbey. Restorations in 1929 and 1964 preserved its fabric. Visitors enter through a plain rectangular door marked with the Melk Abbey coat of arms dated 1740. The broad south front shows two storeys divided by pilasters and niches, topped by a classical gable containing a statue of Saint Sebastian. Inside, a Baroque high altar of 1740 holds a late-14th-century carved Madonna, now a copy after theft in 1972. The eight-sided font dates from 1554, the side altars carry paintings transferred from Melk Abbey, and an 1882 Führich cycle lines the walls.