Gänserndorf

Gänserndorf was a farming settlement in the northern Marchfeld whose parish is documented in 1345. Its church had been built around 1300 and enlarged with a choir during the fourteenth century. Originally it stood within a defensive enclosure, surrounded by a fortified churchyard, giving the religious centre a protective role as well.

A fire in 1683 caused serious damage. Repairs in 1695 transformed the church in the Baroque style, while the older building remained the core of the place of worship. In 1784 the parish was reestablished and incorporated into the Benedictine abbey of Melk. These changes provide a local sequence through the late medieval and early modern centuries: a fortified parish church, destruction and rebuilding, and finally a new institutional connection to a major monastery.