Laurentiuskirche, Gothic parish church in Bludenz, Austria.
Laurentiuskirche is a Gothic church standing on the height beside Schloss Gayenhofen above Bludenz. Its massive east-facing nave with a recessed choir was rebuilt after the 1491 town fire and consecrated in 1514, then lengthened in 1742–1743 by architect Andreas Schmidt. The 48-metre tower, built 1667–1670 to a plan by Jesuit Maximilian von Lerchenfeld, carries stone busts of the four Evangelists and an octagonal upper storey with an onion dome.
A church existed here possibly as a Carolingian proprietary church in 806, passing to the Diocese of Chur in 940. The 14th-century building was rebuilt after a town fire from 1491 to 1514, and the Gothic nave consecrated in 1514 was lengthened by architect Andreas Schmidt in 1742–1743. The tower followed in 1667–1670 to a plan by Jesuit Maximilian von Lerchenfeld.
The church is the mother church of the deaneries Bludenz-Sonnenberg and Montafon. Its bells include the Zwölfe or Susanna bell of 1506 and the Laurentius bell of 1545, both spared from melting down in the two world wars. The Stations of the Cross were painted by Anton Jehly in 1888.
The church stands above the town next to Schloss Gayenhofen and can be reached from the castle through a wall arch. A covered staircase starting near the Oberes Stadttor and the town museum leads up in two bends; it was built in 1694 and renewed in 1840. A second western stairway dates from 1830, and a further open stair runs up between Herrengasse 9 and 13.
Two of the three bells survived both world wars because their age made them too valuable to melt down for armaments. The twelve o'clock bell, cast in 1506 in Biberach, weighs 2,000 kg; the smaller Laurentius bell dates from 1545. A fourth bell has been missing since the Second World War.
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