Parish church of Kainach bei Voitsberg

A special feature is the brick music matroneum, into which a wooden gallery, the so-called Schmiedenchor or Schmiedenkotter, was inserted at the base of the vault at the request of the Kainach scythe smiths in the 18th century.

The first settlement center in the area of the donation was the village of Piber, which, in addition to the so-called Biburg, a fortification, also had a church.

The last of the Eppensteins, Count Henry III, donated the parish of Piber in 1103 as an endowment to the St. Lambert's abbey, which had been newly founded by his father Markwart IV.

[2] The St. Lambert's abbey promoted settlement in the parish area of Piber by clearing the forests, founding villages and building castles and churches.

[2][3] Duke Leopold VI granted various rights to the church of Piber, which were listed and confirmed by Witiko, the country scribe, in a document on January 12, 1245.

During his visitation in 1641, Abbot Benedikt Pierin of Lambert criticized the lack of a tower clock and the partially torn church flags.

A large, no longer extant, image of St. Christopher on the exterior wall above the church doorway was badly weathered by 1719 and was either restored or painted over.

The parish register from the time of the new building lists an Architectorista, i.e. an architect or master builder named Jo(h)annes Joseph de Mäntzenberg, as the father of the baptized child at a baptism, although it is unclear whether he had anything to do with the new construction of the church.

Johann Feiertag alone, who was active in Mariazell as a dealer in pilgrimage souvenirs and had already supported the construction of the Filial church of St. Radegund am heiligen Wasser, donated a total of 2089 gulden for the new building between 1721 and 1724.

It was performed by the Bishop of Seckau, Jakob Ernst von Liechtenstein-Kastelkorn, at the invitation of the Abbot of Lambert, Kilian Werlein, who also consecrated the four altars of the church.

In a contract dated November 25, 1741, the then parish priest Karlmann Löfflerau commissioned the master carpenter Zacharias Stainacher, who came from Köflach, to remodel and embellish the high altar.

[4][10][7] In the course of the church reforms implemented by Emperor Joseph II, known as Josephinism, processions and other customs such as the blessing of food known as the consecration of meat were abolished.

These reforms and regulations demanded that social customs submit to state supervision following the principles of enlightened absolutism.

As part of the electrification of the village of Kainach, which was carried out in 1951, the church and the rectory were also connected to the local power grid.

[14] In 1973, at the request of Bishop Johann Weber, two Sisters of Charity of the Holy Cross, Chiara Wiltsche and Lima Gasperl, came to Kainach to care for the parish.

[14] Sisters of Charity of the Holy Cross, Chiara Wiltsche, left the parish of Kainach in 2011 for health reasons.

[18] With Lima Gasperl, the last of the two Sisters of Charity of the Holy Cross working in Kainach left the parish in 2021.

In the niche above the portal on the west side of the tower is a statue of St. John of Nepomuk from the late 19th century, brought here in 1975 from the convent of the Graz Sisters of Charity of the Holy Cross.

The oldest of the tombstones date back to the middle of the 18th century and are partly reminiscent of the former mills, blacksmiths, scythe and iron hammer trades in this area.

The Köflach master carpenter Zacharias Stainacher provided the altar with two new columns and lesenes in 1741 and probably also redesigned the altarpiece and the tabernacle.

To the left of the altarpiece are two figures, the outer one depicting St. Sebastian pierced by arrows, the other St. Martin in the garb of a bishop.

For the ambo, also designed according to Troger's plans, sandstone from the Sunfixl cave, an old mine for grinding stones on the Hemmerberg, was used.

Grouped around this statue on the left are the figures of St. Oswald, wearing a crown on his head, and St. Dominic, depicted in a monk's habit.

In the center of the parapet is a double-headed eagle based on the imperial coat of arms with the Madonna and the Mariazell treasury image.

To the left of the eagle, reliefs depict the Archangel Michael holding a shield with the inscription "QVIS UT DEVS", the Latin translation of his name (Engl.

"Who is like God"), and St. John of Nepomuk, who, according to one legend, is hearing the confession of the wife of the Bohemian King Wenceslaus IV.

On the other side of the eagle relief are depicted St. Florian extinguishing a burning house and a guardian angel watching over a child.

[21] The leadlight windows on both long sides on the ground floor of the nave are decorated with color ornaments, at least some of which were created by Ed.

On the eastern wall near the baptismal font hangs a picture of St. John the Baptist painted by Franz Weiss in 2006.

The colors, the gold of the sky as well as the red of the blood, stand here for the martyr George, the patron saint of the parish.