Pfarrkirche Neumarkt im Mühlkreis, Roman Catholic parish church in Neumarkt im Mühlkreis, Austria
The Pfarrkirche Neumarkt im Mühlkreis is a church building in Austria that stands slightly raised on the north side of the main square and features a massive stone structure with a tall tower. Inside, a large open space with high ceilings showcases colorful wall paintings, stained glass windows that create patterns of light, and multiple altars decorated with statues of various saints.
A parish was documented in 1147, and around 1260 disputes with Freistadt moved the parish seat there; Neumarkt was re-established as a parish in 1891. The Romanesque predecessor's east nave wall survives, while the choir and lower tower were built in the mid-14th century and the nave was vaulted by 1500. A Baroque west front followed in 1731, and in 1885 Raimund Jeblinger added a neo-Gothic tower storey.
The church is dedicated to Saint James the Elder, the patron saint of pilgrims and travelers. Inside, this saint appears in several places, including on the high altar with a staff and in modern bronze reliefs that illustrate his legends and connect the place to pilgrimage traditions.
The church stands slightly raised north of the market square, so its south tower and neo-Gothic spire are seen from the square. The main entrance is on the south side through a Baroque portal porch; a round late-Gothic stair turret with a conical roof adjoins the tower to the west. The interior was restored in 1988.
The choir vault holds mid-14th-century wall paintings of coloured stars and marbled ribs; the keystones show a painted star and a blossom with the head of Christ beside it. The nave's west gallery carries half-figure paintings of the apostles by Franz Prunner, dated 1719.
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