Old Cathedral of Sankt Andrä, Parish church in Sankt Andrä, Austria.
The Old Cathedral of Sankt Andrä is a parish church featuring Gothic exterior design built on a Romanesque foundation that was expanded over centuries. The structure incorporates architectural styles from multiple periods reflecting various phases of renovation and development.
A church at Sankt Andrä is first documented in 890, in a deed of Emperor Arnulf. Around 1225 an Augustinian monastery was founded there, and when the Diocese of Lavant was created in 1228 the church became its cathedral. It served as cathedral until 1859, when the bishop's seat moved to Marburg (Maribor) and the Carinthian parishes passed to the Diocese of Gurk.
The high altar, made by Mathias Slama in 1902 and completed by Alois Progar in 1908, holds a crucifixion group with statues of Peter and Paul carved in Munich in 1901. The right side altar has a mid-18th-century Annunciation by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, brought here by Prince-Bishop Count Johann von Thurn-Valsassina. The choir stalls are dated 1761.
The church is located on Kirchenplatz and welcomes visitors wanting to explore its architecture and history. It is helpful to check opening times in advance since these may vary by season.
The south choir, now used as the sacristy, keeps a ribbed vault made around 1400 resting on carved head corbels. In the former provost's courtyard south of the church, a Gothic waterspout survives on one of the buttresses. Two bells cast by Urban Fiering are dated 1553 and 1554.
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