Photo: P.W.Mach

Kirche St. Laurentius in Lieserhofen

Seeboden am Millstätter See, Carinthia

The small church was first mentioned in a document in 1640 and appears as a 17th-century building. Located on Hühnersberg not far from the old Roman road, its exposed hillside location makes it visible from afar. A steep footpath leads past 14 Stations of the Cross (1846) up to the church. The Stations of the Cross paintings by Hans Freudenschuss date from the 1930s. The southwest tower was only added in 1958 to the house of worship, which was originally built with a wooden roof turret. The single-nave church building with a semicircular apse and red tiled roof is now kept in a delicate yellow. While the apse may date back to a Romanesque predecessor, the furnishings largely date from the first half of the 17th century. Restored in 1985 and most recently in 1998, the small church is now in good condition again. The interior initially appears sober. The flat-ceilinged nave with round-arched windows and painted marble columns on the walls is adjoined by the recessed chancel arch with the vaulted chancel. Here too, painted marble architectures convey an impression of great splendor. The high altar with a marbled column-pilaster pair and broken segmental arch pediment is adorned with putto figures and a relief figure of God the Father in a halo. Five altarpieces exist for the altar, which are changed accordingly during the church year: In addition to the high-quality Pietà depiction on Golgotha with John the Evangelist, which, like the altar, dates to the 18th century, the Birth of Christ, Sacred Heart of Jesus, and Sacred Heart of Mary have been preserved. These paintings, created without priming on canvas in the manner of Tüchleinmalerei (painting on fine linen), are stylistically from the beginning of the 20th century. A marbled pulpit to the right in front of the chancel arch presents itself in a Neoclassical style with golden bows and hangings on the basket. Next to it and opposite, two icon paintings depict the blessing Christ and Mary with the Child on clouds against a gold background. To the left, a figure of the Lourdes Madonna and a bell from the 13th/14th century, remarkable for its great age, complete the furnishings. Two large-format Baroque oil paintings from the first half of the 18th century show on the north wall St. George in battle with the dragon, and opposite, the church patron Laurentius before his martyrdom on the gridiron.