Church of St. Ruprecht im Friedhof

The Church of St. Ruprecht im Friedhof in Bruck a der Mur, Styria ( Austria ), is most renowned for its 1416 frescoes.The Roman Catholic Church, located just outside of town, is currently only used for funerals and is dedicated to St. Rupert of Salzburg.

The Church of St. Ruprecht is surrounded by a cemetery on the right bank of the Mur, just outside of town.A stone plaque adjacent to the west doorway, which can no longer be fully understood, claims 1063 as the claimed initial consecration date, which is challenged by well-known art historians; as a parish church, it is named between 1195 and 1545.

Originally, there was a flat-roofed Romanesque church with an attached choir square tower, which corresponds to today’s southern nave.A second nave was erected to the north in the years 1415 and 1416, which was joined to the existing nave by breaking through the ancient north wall and is closed off in the east by a 5/8 apse.A two-bay choir with a 5/8 closure was also erected to the east of the tower, along with the sacristy and a circular stair tower to the south.The church tower was raised in 1770 and replaced by a baroque onion dome with a lantern.

The interior of the church, which has a ribbed roof, comprises two naves and four bays.The pillars and ribs are grouted, and the keystones are carved and multicolored.The baroque high altar, which dates from approximately 1680, is dedicated to Saint Rupert, and the altar painting depicts Saint Rupert and an ancient view of the church on the bottom left margin.The church also has several baroque side altars, a 1735 pulpit by Matthäus Krenauer, a baroque organ, and a late Gothic octagonal baptismal font made of red marble.

The church is bordered by a cemetery featuring an early 13th-century Romanesque ossuary.This ossuary, dedicated to Saint Erhard, features a Gothic ceiling and serves as a war monument today.