Pfarrkirche Heiliger Georg in Sternberg, Wernberg

The parish church of Sternberg crowns a steep hill above the Süd Autobahn in Wernberg. Built on the site of an old hillfort, it stands inside a once-walled cemetery that still shows traces of its defensive past. The church is dedicated to Saint George and belongs to the Diocese of Gurk. The building tells a long story. Roman stones from a nearby road station are built into its walls, and the first church was an estate chapel of the Counts of Sternberg in the 12th century. After changing hands several times, the church was damaged in a 15th-century siege and later restored. In 1997 restorers uncovered a 16th-century sundial fresco and repaired 18th-century decorations. Inside, the nave has a late-Gothic net-ribbed vault from the 15th century. A late-Gothic fresco of Saint George and other saints was revealed on the north wall in 1994. The high altar, made in the late 18th century, carries a figure of Saint George on horseback. A late-Gothic octagonal font in the south chapel shows painted scenes of the life of Christ. The church also holds a 1629 Lenten cloth with 24 biblical scenes and a Baroque pulpit decorated with painted parables.