Stadtpfarrkirche St Andrä, Lienz: Gothic Parish Church in Austria
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.8
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- Austria
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Early Modern, Modern
- Civilizations
- Holy Roman Empire
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Church
On this page13 sections
History
Stadtpfarrkirche St Andrä, Lienz is a Roman Catholic parish church in Austria dedicated to Saint Andrew, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus and traditionally the brother of Saint Peter. Its architectural core dates from the Gothic rebuilding begun in 1430, although the church stands on a Christian site used since at least the fifth century. The church is the deanery parish church of Lienz and a listed monument.
Early Christian and Romanesque Foundations
An Early Christian church stood on Pfarrbichl, north of Lienz, by the fifth century. In 1204, the Bishop of Pola, the medieval bishop of what is now Pula in Croatia, consecrated a Romanesque church on the site. This building was single-aisled, decorated with frescoes, and probably covered by a flat ceiling. Two portal lions from the Romanesque church survive at the main entrance.
Gothic Rebuilding and Gorizia Patronage
In 1430, the Gorizia building workshop began converting the Romanesque church into a three-aisled Gothic basilica. The Counts of Gorizia, a medieval ruling dynasty resident in Lienz, commissioned the work. This rebuilding created the essential form of the present church, including its Gothic fresco decoration and crypt beneath the choir.
The church also became a place of burial for members of the regional nobility. Christoph Geiger, a sculptor active in Innsbruck, made dark-red-marble tomb slabs for Leonhard, the last Count of Gorizia, who died on 12 April 1500. He also made the tomb slabs for Michael von Wolkenstein-Rodenegg, who died in 1523, and for Michael’s wife, Barbara von Thun.
Parish and Ecclesiastical Administration
Eberhard, first recorded as Lienz’s city parish priest in 1234, is the earliest documented holder of that office. No further city parish priests are recorded until 1440. On 7 July 1624, the Deanery of Lienz was founded, and the church became its deanery parish church.
For centuries, the parish belonged to the Archdiocese of Salzburg. In 1808 it was placed under Brixen, transferred to Laibach for several years, and then returned to Brixen. After the First World War, it came under the Apostolic Administration of Innsbruck-Feldkirch, a church territory temporarily governed by an administrator rather than a diocesan bishop. This administration became the Diocese of Innsbruck in 1964.
Fire, Alteration, and Modern Rebuilding
A lightning strike destroyed the tower and the church roof in 1737. The altar area was subsequently redesigned in the Baroque style, including the principal altar, which is described as the most sumptuous Baroque altar in East Tyrol. During the nineteenth century, the interior was remodeled in a Gothic Revival style. The upper part of the tower was rebuilt in 1907-1909 in its present Neo-Gothic form, and renovation in 1967-1969 established the church’s current appearance.
A war memorial chapel was added on the north side in 1924-1925 by the architect Clemens Holzmeister. It commemorates people killed in war and contains a cycle of paintings by Albin Egger-Lienz, who is buried there. The church’s bells were removed for military purposes during the First World War. Seven replacement bells were cast by the Grassmayr foundry in 1927, but these were requisitioned again in 1942. The present seven-bell peal was cast by Grassmayr, acquired, and consecrated in 1949. Bells three and six were recast in 1950 because the original arrangement was acoustically impure. Two bell-consecration certificates are dated 24 June 1949 and 4 February 1950.
The ringing order follows the liturgical rank of each day, with a larger peal on feast days and a smaller combination on weekdays. Special ringing accompanies the Eucharistic consecration, the Angelus, commemorations of Christ’s agony and death, funerals, the Gloria of the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, and the Gloria of the Easter Vigil. An annual All Saints’ Day peal commemorates those who died during the preceding year.
Remains
The church stands on Pfarrbichl north of the Isel in Lienz, at an elevation of 692 metres. Its surviving structure combines a Gothic three-aisled basilica with later Baroque, Neo-Gothic, and twentieth-century elements. The central nave rises above the side aisles, but only its south side has clerestory windows, meaning windows in the upper part of the nave. The windowless north wall makes the building partly a pseudobasilica, a church resembling a basilica without a complete clerestory.
Church Structure and Memorial Chapel
Romanesque Entrance Remains
The main entrance preserves two portal lions from the single-aisled Romanesque church consecrated in 1204. They provide visible evidence of the earlier building incorporated into the later church.
Gothic Nave and Choir
The Gothic rebuilding produced the present three-aisled arrangement and the essential form of the church. Gothic frescoes formed part of the decorative scheme, while a crypt, a vaulted or underground space beneath a church, was built below the choir. The altar area retains its later Baroque design, including the principal altar, and the upper tower displays the Neo-Gothic remodeling of 1907-1909.
War Memorial Chapel
The war memorial chapel on the north side of the church dates from 1924-1925. Its interior contains a cycle of paintings by Albin Egger-Lienz, and the painter’s grave is located within the chapel.
Organ and Bells
Organ
The organ stands on the west gallery. Andreas Butz of Passau built the original instrument in 1618, and Franz II Reinisch rebuilt it in 1888. Since 1972, the surviving Butz organ case, the outer housing of the instrument, has contained an organ by Reinisch-Pirchner that incorporates some of the surviving Butz pipes.
Bell Peal
The bell frame is a two-level, three-bay structure, and the installation is electrified. All seven bells have clapper-catchers, devices that stop a bell’s clapper after ringing. Bell seven appears to be older than the others and is probably the surviving bell from the 1927 peal. Although the peal has repeatedly been described as sounding at a lowered H0, bell experts agree that it sounds at a raised B0. The peal is regarded as one of the largest in East Tyrol.
