Stadtpfarrkirche, Parish church in Wels, Austria
Stadtpfarrkirche is a Gothic three-aisled basilica in Wels with a Romanesque core in its west tower and lower storeys. The tower was heightened in 1731–1732 by Johann Michael Prunner and given an onion dome; the west portal is Baroque outside, while the former Romanesque portal remains visible inside. The nave has a cross-ribbed vault on six piers, some of Romanesque origin.
First documented on 13 April 888, when King Arnulf granted his chaplain Zazco the chapel at Wels as property; it later belonged to Kremsmünster Abbey. In the 13th century the chapel was replaced by a Romanesque basilica, and in the 14th century it was rebuilt as a three-aisled Gothic church, retaining Romanesque elements. The west tower was raised and given its onion dome in 1731–32 by Johann Michael Prunner under mayor Johann Paumgartner.
The church holds marble sarcophagi of the Polheim noble family, brought here after the Minorite monastery closed in 1785. These tombs reflect the building's connection to local aristocratic history.
The church stands in Wels, and the medieval cemetery that once surrounded it was moved in 1559 to the site of today's market grounds; epitaphs from these closed burial grounds are mounted on the exterior walls. Inside, the nave is entered through a Baroque west portal, while the former Romanesque portal remains visible within.
The crypt beneath the baptistery, 8 metres long and 4.6 metres wide, uses an old gravestone as its cover slab, with the carved face turned downward. Inside, red-ochre inscriptions and the year 1692 survive.
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