Pfarrkirche Malta

The parish church in Malta stands beside the Malta river in the southern Austrian state of Carinthia. It is a broad, medium-sized building whose oldest parts date from the 13th to 15th centuries. A massive tower with early Baroque detailing rises north of the choir, and the whole structure shows both Gothic and later styles. The church contains wall paintings from several centuries. A 14th-century fresco of Saint Christopher on the south side of the choir was uncovered in 2002, revealing a small Mickey Mouse figure at the saint’s feet. Late 13th-century frescoes of the Virgin and saints appear on the south-west corner, and Roman-era tombstones are built into the walls. Inside, the ribbed vaults carry painted coats of arms, and the high altar of 1782 holds a Madonna with the Christ Child visible through a glass panel in her breast. Beside the church stands a 12th-century round chapel with a single apse. Its vault bears a 14th-century Crucifixion fresco. The surrounding graveyard is enclosed by a shingle-roofed wall that may once have been a defensive fortification. A painted panel at the entrance shows the Virgin and Child with the Archangel Michael and the date 1639.