Benefiziatskirche St. Michael, Lienz, Gothic church in Lienz, Austria

The Benefiziatkirche St. Michael is a single-nave, five-bay Gothic church in Lienz with a polygonal choir and a six-storey tower on the north side topped by an eight-sided double onion dome. The nave vault has ribs forming eight-petaled flower stars with five carved keystones, and the west front has a quatrefoil window.

The church is older than its first documentary mention, which dates to 1308. Its choir was built in the second half of the 15th century by the Gorizia (Görzer) building workshop. In 1501 Virgil von Graben, imperial councillor and governor of Lienz, endowed the St. Michael benefice, making the church the burial place of the von Graben and related families. Between the early 16th century and 1531 Andrä Vierthaler and his son Bartlmä Firtaler vaulted the nave; the tower was built in 1712/1714.

In 1501 Virgil von Graben, imperial councillor and governor of Lienz, endowed the St. Michael benefice, making the church the burial place of the von Graben family and related houses such as the Rainer zu Rain and the Leublfing. Their epitaphs and memorial tablets line the exterior walls and the interior, including a red marble slab for Heinrich von Graben and a relief for Virgil, who died in 1507.

The church sits in the center of the former cattle market on Beda-Weber-Gasse street and is easy for visitors to reach while exploring the historic district. Its central location makes it simple to include in a walk through the old town.

The vault displays unusual rib patterns forming flower-star shapes, with an eight-petaled design repeated in the choir vault in 1667. These geometric patterns are carefully worked into the structure and can be seen when looking up from the floor.