Goat Church, Sopron, Gothic Catholic church in Sopron, Hungary

Goat Church (Kecske-templom) is a Gothic hall church in Sopron with a polygonal choir, a nave on four massive round pillars, and a 47-metre tower on its north side facing the main square. The tower's facade carries a Gothic frieze and a goat, the heraldic animal of donor Geisel Henrik. The south portal's tympanum holds a 15th-century Gothic statue of Mary in a cloak.

Franciscans are first mentioned in Sopron in a 1280 document, and the church was probably begun in the 1270s; its polygonal choir with large traceried windows came first. The nave followed around 1300, while the vault and the 47-metre tower facing the main square were built around 1400 with funding from Geisel Henrik between 1379 and 1409. Joseph II dissolved the Franciscan house in 1787, and the Benedictines took over the church.

The church's popular name comes from the goat on the coat of arms of Geisel Henrik, the wealthy Sopron citizen who funded the nave, vault and tower between 1379 and 1409; the goat appears on the tower's gable and on consoles in the gallery. Oral tradition instead says the church was built from a treasure dug up by a goat. A 15th-century Gothic statue of Mary in a cloak decorates the south portal's tympanum.

The church is located at Templom utca 1 in central Sopron and is easy to reach on foot. Regular religious services take place, and guided tours of the Gothic architecture are offered, so checking opening times and service schedules beforehand is helpful.

The goat appears repeatedly on the building: on the donor's coat of arms in the silver field, on the consoles of the gallery stylised as goats, and on the vimperga of the tower's pointed portal. Oral tradition spun a separate tale around them, claiming the church was built from a treasure dug up by a goat.