Parish Church of St. Stephen

The St. Stephan parish church, which belongs to the Roman Catholic Church, is a major landmark in Braunau am Inn. The tower, which stands 87 meters tall, is one of Austria’s highest church towers.St. Stephan has been legally merged into the parish of Braunau, which is part of the Diocese of Linz, since January 1, 2023. This new configuration contains 14 parishes in all.

From a typological aspect, the construction corresponds to the Landshut School’s architectural style. Furthermore, the vault design of the building is evocative of, or acts as a prototype for, other noteworthy constructions such as St. John’s Church in Dingolfing, the Hospital Church of the Holy Spirit in Landshut, and St. Nicholas Parish Church in Eggenfelden.The nave’s floor layout plainly shows the influence of Landshut’s Martinskirche.

The tower of the Braunau parish church is sometimes falsely referred to be Austria’s third highest church tower.Vienna (Stephansdom), Linz (Maria-Empfängnis-Dom), and Graz (Herz-Jesu-Kirche) have the three most significant church towers in Austria.The purported height of the church tower of Braunau parish church has been regularly misrepresented as 96 or 99 meters. The source of this inaccuracy may be traced back to a 19th-century calculation error. Regrettably, this error has been repeated in several venues, including the church guide described in the literature section below.The actual height of the tower, according to the Braunau surveying office, is 87 meters.

• Length without tower: 60 m
• Length with tower: 67 m
• Width: 25 m
• Nave height: 20 m
• Height of the tower: 87 m

The church is renowned for its various features, one of which is the baker’s altar that dates back to the late 15th century.During the period from 1670 to 1730, the guild chapels experienced a significant transformation, adopting the baroque style.In 1905, a new neo-Gothic winged altarpiece was installed to replace the high altar that was built by Michael Zürn in 1642. This altarpiece was designed by Friedrich von Schmidt and created by Georg Schreiner from Regensburg. The previous high altar held great historical and cultural significance.The baroque-style altarpiece, created by the renowned painter Matthäus Lettenpichler of Passau in 1642, has been moved to the side position of the winged reredos in the presbytery.The choir stalls, showcasing an impressive Renaissance style, hold historical significance dating back to 1598. These stalls were reserved exclusively for the mayor, council members, and guild masters of Braunau.Furthermore, Michael Zürn has also created numerous Baroque altars within the church.