Kath. Pfarrkirche Hl. Rupert, Scheuchenstein

The Catholic parish church of St Rupert stands on a slight rise in the centre of Scheuchenstein village, part of Miesenbach in Lower Austria’s Wiener Neustadt district. Built as a branch of Waidmannsfeld, it became an independent parish in 1342, passed under Starhemberg patronage in 1510, was dissolved in 1579, re-established in 1783 and transferred to the Archdiocese of Vienna in 1785. The present building combines a Romanesque core with Gothic and Baroque additions, and is surrounded by a walled cemetery. The church is notable for its complex choir arrangement: a late-Romanesque square with a hanging rosette keystone, a 14th-century Gothic choir with stepped buttresses and early 14th-century lancet and quatrefoil windows. Inside, a broad west gallery from 1688 carries carved decoration, and two round-arched Baroque triumph arches frame access to the two choirs. The sacristies include a medieval vaulted room and a Baroque successor, while wall paintings from around 1600 were restored in 1994 and a 1946 Hans Brunner design fills the choir windows with images of Sts Hemma, Leopold, Rupert and Severin. Visitors walk beneath a steep roof topped by a wooden belfry with onion dome, then enter a transverse nave under a flat 1941 coffered ceiling. The former Romanesque choir shows a blocked round-arched window and ribbed vault with mask corbels, while the Gothic choir beyond has a five-sided apse and ribbed vault with concave ribs. A 17th-century sandstone font, 18th- and 19th-century statues, Kupelwieser’s donated Rupert altarpiece and a 1991 Herbert Gollini organ complete the furnishings.