Protestant Church of Attersee

In 1813, the catholic community of the parish of Attersee sold the old Catholic Saint Martin's Church in Attersee on Lake Attersee to the protestant community for 480 guilders. The church thus became the protestant parish church of the Attergau region. The protestant pastor Johann Adam Leydel is known as the first minister of the protestant church of Attersee.

The Protestant parish of Attersee comprises protestant believers from the communities of Attersee, Nußdorf, Unterach, Straß, St. Georgen and Berg

In 1854, the nave was extended and a neo-gothic tower was attached. Originally, there was only a small tower sitting on the church roof on the West side of the church. The tower in its present form was built by the master-builder Lukas from St. Georgen.

One year later, three bells, casted in Bochum (Westphalia), were installed.

Until 1900, a so-called pulpit altar stood in the chancel, meaning that the pulpit with its neo-gothic pulpit cover was affixed directly behind the altar table. The present pulpit, located on the lakeside of the church, is a copy of the Master Pilgram-pulpit of St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna. The altar, the chancel and the glass-windows were donated to the parish by the Schmidt family from Seewalchen/Vienna, who was also much involved in the research on the pile dwelling culture on Lake Attersee. Two of the splendid glass-windows are from the late gothic period and were probably made in Bohemia. The altar, which is a copy of a late gothic winged altar in Carinthia, blends in harmonically with the gothic chancel.

The Schmidt family also had a neo-gothic tomb-chapel constructed on the left outer wall of the protestant church.

In the course of archaeological excavations during the last restorations of the church, the tomb of a late pastor and the remains of a Christophorus-fresco were found on the former outer-wall on the lake-side of the church. At this occasion, the original outline of the church was also made visible by variegated cobblestones of the former church floor. Thanks to the makeover of the chancel this is now very well presented.

The old organ chancel with its very appealing balustrade was a bit distracting as it dominated the chancel. Thanks to the new organ, which was acquired in 1972, the chancel is now more open and doesn't seem to dominate the church interior so much anymore. The newly restored beautiful cross is a donation from the protestant church of Salzburg, which was affiliated to the protestant parish of Attersee until 1863.