Pfarrhof Kuchl

The Turm der Panicher stands in Kuchl, a market town in Salzburg’s Hallein district. Its successor building is the parish hall, protected as a listed monument. The site began as a count’s court with a court of law after a 997 exchange between a local official and the archbishop. Around the year 1000 the Counts of Plain laid out the market and built a church that later became the parish hall. The Panicher family took over the old tower in the 15th century after serving the Counts of Kraiburg. In 1471 Primus Panicher became parish priest here after a disputed appointment. After Wolfgang Panicher’s death in 1508 the family donated the tower as a new parish hall. Traces of the Panichers remain in the churchyard, including a 1507 tombstone by Hans Valkenauer and carved figures from 1463 wearing distinctive caps. The present parish hall still shows the 8-metre square tower in its masonry. The main block dates from 1565 but has later additions and a late-Gothic entrance. Inside, a ribbed vault and a 1980 fresco of the Virgin and Child decorate the ground floor. The building’s three storeys under a hipped roof sit beside the market square, linking medieval tower with later parish life.