Salzburg Photos: A Church in Rural Austria

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A Baroque church in rural Austria



This little church is the Johannskirchlein in Köstendorf, a generally unspectecular community in the northern Flachgau area. Churches like this one can be found all over Salzburg: They served as small centres of worship in addition to usually larger parish churches. This one might have been built on the site of a Pagan ritual site, which was common practice to "neutralise" pagan believes and include them into Catholic rites. Later, the site was home to a special cemetery for locals who died from Bubonic plague and gained its current Baroque appearance. There is probably no municipality in Salzburg that doesn't have similar little gems, usually called "Filialkirchen" ("branch church"). It is often worth exploring them on a little walk.

photo (c) visit-salzburg.net


Visit-Salzburg.net