Welsche Kirche, Graz

The Welsche Kirche is a Roman Catholic church in Graz’s Gries district. It stands as the local chapel of Graz-Welsche Kirche dedicated to St Francis of Paola, under the parish of Graz-St. Andrä and the Graz-Mitte deanery. The church’s name comes from the Italian craftsmen who built it, called ‘Welsche’ by locals. The church was completed in 1725 after four years of work led by Joseph Carlone. In 1745 and 1746 Josef Hueber added the present façade, tower and ridge turret. The Italian brotherhood of builders, painters, sculptors and stucco workers had petitioned for the church in 1717, backed by about a third of sympathetic Styrian nobles. The façade faces Griesplatz and shows three sandstone figures representing Faith, Hope and Love. Inside, a single nave leads to a rectangular chancel with a richly decorated high altar by Carlo Federigo Formentini. The left side altar holds a painting of the Crucifixion and, above it, the stigmata of St Francis of Assisi. The right side altar depicts the death of St Joseph, with an upper image of St Anne teaching the Virgin. The 1843 organ by Alois Hörbiger has sixteen stops across manual and pedal.