Pfarrkirche St. Martin im Mühlkreis

First mentioned in documents in 1242, the parish of Pfarrkirche St. Martin im Mühlkreis became independent approximately 200 years later and has been continuously served by the Augustinian Canons from St. Florian since 1580. The church itself is of Romanesque origin (around 1150). Due to the destruction of the church building in one of the successions wars, it became necessary around 1320 to build a church in the High Gothic style. Around 1400, it was expanded into a two-aisled hall church, and in 1519, on the south side—following a donation—the current baptismal chapel (then called the Marian Chapel) was built in late Gothic style. Baroque renovations and extensions were carried out in the 18th century: a sacristy on the north side (which was demolished in 1978), the cladding and raising of the bell tower in 1741, and in 1779, a mortuary chapel (now used as a sacristy). A century later, during a re-Gothicization, an altar, a pulpit, and new interior furnishings were created, but these only lasted about 100 years, as in 1978/79, to meet the liturgical requirements of the Second Vatican Council, the church was enlarged and the altar was moved to the center of the nave. The original east-west orientation was shifted to a south-north alignment, further emphasized by the relocation of the medieval Martin window. In 2013, the altar area was redesigned again. Based on an idea by Univ. Prof. Frank Louis, artist Gabriel Berger from Aigen created the new altar, inspired by the idea of sharing a saint Martin: a granite block was carved to form the ambo—dividing the altar table and the ambo from a single piece. Among the church’s oldest treasures are six rectangular stained glass panels (created between 1380 and 1410), embedded in the right two-aisled window of the baptismal chapel. They depict, in the top row, Maria Magdalena (with a salve vessel) and Katharina of Alexandria (with a wheel and crown). Next to them are St. Christopher with the Christ child and Margrave Leopold III with the count’s crown and a sword. The second row below shows St. Martin—the church’s patron—as a knight on horseback. To the right are Mary with the Christ child and St. Dorothy of Caesarea (with a crown and fruits in a basket). The lowest row features the lay benefactor Georg Volkrä (in armor with a crow’s coat of arms) and the clerical benefactor, a vicar in mass vestments, and the church in the coat of arms shield. The baptismal font, created around 1460 from local Plöckinger granite and probably restored in the 20th century, is among the oldest parts of the church along with the six stained glass windows.