Church of Spitz, Lower Austria, Catholic parish church in Spitz, Austria

The Church of Spitz is a late Gothic hall church with a high saddle roof and a four-storey west tower whose steep hipped roof is covered in multicoloured glazed tiles, considered Austria's only fully preserved late medieval polychrome tower roof. The nave and long choir have three-light pointed windows with varied tracery and stepped buttresses, and a medieval defensive wall with stepped supports survives around it.

A chapel is documented in 1163, and the church became a parish by 1222/25, with a priest recorded in 1229. From 1238 to 1803 it was incorporated into Niederaltaich Abbey, and under pastor Johann Grienwald it was raised to a provostship. The late Gothic nave was built from the 14th century to 1517.

The church is dedicated to Saint Maurice and was also dedicated to Saint Godehard; a chapel here was documented in 1163, and a parish priest in Spitz in 1229. From 1238 to 1803 the parish was incorporated into Niederaltaich Abbey, and under pastor Johann Grienwald it was raised to a provostry. Look for the relief keystones in the nave bearing the coats of arms of Spitz and Niederaltaich.

The church stands at Kirchenplatz in the eastern part of Spitz, not on the Danube bank. A medieval defensive churchyard wall with stepped buttresses and large rough stone blocks survives around it. The four-storey west tower is topped by Austria's only fully preserved late medieval polychrome tiled roof.

The four-storey west tower is roofed with multicoloured glazed tiles, considered the only fully preserved late medieval polychrome tower roof in Austria. A head sculpture is set into the wall above its chamfered pointed-arch portal, and the ground floor is covered by a rib vault with a keystone bearing a rosette and a mask face.