Discovery of a Time Capsule in the 700-Year-Old St. John the Baptist Church in Weissbriach: Unique Gem in the Austrian Alpine Spa Served by Europe’s Oldest Altar Boy (88)

Abstract

The St. John the Baptist Parish Church in the village of Weissbriach in the Austrian Alps dates from the early 14th century. During a Spa stay in the mountain village, a chance discovery of the iconography of the Renaissance frescoes of the medieval church was made. Thanks to excellent collaborations with the local representatives of the church and numerous academics it was possible to make an interdisciplinary study of the art historic content of this gem. It was like the opening of a more than 500-year-old time capsule. The Gitsch Valley was a prosperous gold mining area in the 16th century; this economic prosperity showed up in the richness of the restored frescos of the enlarged church. Due to the lack of written sources, the extant silent witnesses of the rich past of the church are analysed with a detective eye. The article describes in detail the architectural and artistic intricacies that reveal the layered history of the building. What drew my attention the most were the ornamental Renaissance features in the church. Why were these so different? Why were there several contrasting dates: 1520 just below the nave, but frescos with dates from the early 17th century. Something did not match, and apparently nobody had wondered why. The iconographic aspects of the content of the church appear to have been waiting for more than 500 years for some attention. There are many unique and interesting features to be discovered in the building and in its frescos: the decoration of the vault, the symbolism in the frescoes, the variety of the repeating Mannerist patterns, a pun in the enlarged dice with the year 1530 as a date of the creation of the frescos and a self-portrait of the talented artist. With its marvelous light, this church depicts the biblical story of God’s creation at the beginning of the age of discovery of the New World, with an incredible wealth of colours, lasting impressions, and a longing for the discovery of rich mines of gold and silver. The virtuoso artist plays with proportions and perspective, and leaves clues scattered throughout his work as to its meanings and date of origin. A tentative test to identify the so-called DNA of the small medieval church, with its characteristic inclined tower, contained in its heraldic weapons was applied but will need further research. This parish church is the host of the oldest (88) altar boy in Europe. He has served for many decades in front of the fresco, with a painted over plaque, of the founders that commemorates the descendants of Christoph Khevenhueller, dressed in the miner’s symbols of the hammer and pickaxe, source of the foregone wealth of Weissbriach, an enigmatic village nestled in the mountains of Carinthia in the South of Austria.