Saint John the Evangelist Chapel (Pürgg): A Romanesque Chapel in Austria
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.9
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- Austria
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval
- Civilizations
- Holy Roman Empire
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Chapel
On this page9 sections
History
Saint John the Evangelist Chapel is a small Romanesque chapel in Austria, standing on Calvary Hill in Pürgg, within the municipality of Stainach-Pürgg in Styria. Its architectural features may indicate origins before 1120, while the chapel itself was first documented in 1350. It is dedicated to John the Evangelist and is considered a surviving part of the former Graunscharn Castle, associated with the medieval Traungau ruling family of Styria.
Origins and the Traungau Castle
The chapel may originally have served as the castle chapel of Graunscharn. The Traungau line ended in 1192, after which the castle was abandoned and later disappeared. The surviving chapel was probably then converted into a memorial chapel, allowing one part of the former complex to continue in a religious role after the castle itself had vanished.
Baroque Use and Medieval Frescoes
From the Baroque period, which followed the Romanesque era from the seventeenth century and favored more elaborate architectural and decorative forms, the building served as a station on a Way of the Cross. Three crosses on the south wall recall this function. A small roof turret was also added on the west side during this period.
Painted-over medieval frescoes came to light during work on the chapel in 1870. They were restored in 1893 and 1894, but the treatment was technically inadequate, and the paintings soon began to flake. Conservation undertaken from 1937 to 1948 halted the further deterioration. The frescoes date from the third quarter of the twelfth century and are attributed to artists connected with the Salzburg artistic circle, who were familiar with Byzantine art.
Margrave Ottokar III of Traungau, who lived from 1125 to 1164 and governed the margraviate of Styria, is believed to have sponsored the paintings. He may also be one of the two donor figures beside the opening to the chancel. The chapel is protected as a monument and is noted for the exceptional preservation of its medieval wall paintings.
Remains
Romanesque Building
The chapel is a simple Romanesque hall, a style of the eleventh and twelfth centuries characterized in churches by solid masonry, round-headed arches, and relatively small windows. The building measures approximately 11 by 6 metres. A narrower and lower square chancel extends eastward from the hall, and a round-headed triumphal arch separates the two spaces.
Walls, Windows, and Roofs
The exposed walls are built from cubically dressed stone blocks. Three narrow Romanesque window openings are placed high in each of the north and south walls, while three more openings are arranged on the three sides of the chancel. A small round window survives in the west wall. Gabled roofs covered with wooden shingles shelter the chapel, and shingles also clad the west wall and the small roof turret. Doorways open in the south, west, and north walls; the northern entrance has a wooden porch.
Interior Fresco Cycle
Frescoes cover almost the entire interior, creating a sequence of painted zones around the hall and chancel. The lowest zone imitates a hanging curtain. Above it, a main band approximately 2 metres high presents different subjects on the two long walls. The north wall shows the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves, while the south wall contains scenes associated with the birth of Christ.
Paintings in the Hall
At the western end, the secular Cat and Mouse War illustrates a fable attributed to Aesop. In the upper band, the foolish virgins appear on the north side opposite the wise virgins on the south. Beside the triumphal arch are scenes of the sacrifices of Cain and Abel. Ornament fills the spaces around these subjects in bands that imitate marble and textiles, together with plant-based and geometric patterns.
Chancel Images and Symbols
The decorative band around the triumphal arch contains repeated, slightly distorted forms of the word “Allah” in Kufic script, an early angular style of Arabic writing, interwoven with arabesques, or flowing ornamental patterns based mainly on stylized foliage. On the east wall of the chancel, John the Baptist appears on the left and John the Evangelist on the right. John the Baptist was regarded in Christianity as the forerunner of Jesus, while John the Evangelist was one of Jesus’ apostles and is traditionally associated with the Gospel of John.
The side walls show two bishops with regional associations, probably Rupert and Virgil, facing two crowned Old Testament figures who hold scrolls, probably David and Melchizedek. Rupert and Virgil were early Christian bishops associated with the Salzburg region. David was an Israelite king and biblical ancestor of the Messiah, while Melchizedek was a priest-king mentioned in the Hebrew Bible.
The four sections of the chancel’s shallow vault contain the traditional symbols of the Evangelists: a bull, lion, eagle, and human figure. These appear beside a central image of Christ as the Lamb, shown with a cross-shaped halo and a cross-banner. The remaining furnishings include a simple altar mensa, the flat slab forming the altar top. A Romanesque crucifix that once stood above the altar, along with the candleholders, was later removed.
