History and Architecture

The “Civic Hospital Church” was first mentioned in a document in 1321 and was originally dedicated to Saints Martin and Elisabeth, later to Saint Joseph. It is part of the former civic hospital complex, located outside the old town walls near the former Villach Gate. The building ensemble consists of a two-storey Gothic structure arranged around an elongated courtyard. In the 17th century, the complex was expanded and enhanced with round-arched arcades and colonnades. After a fire in 1829, the hospital was repaired.

The church itself is a small Gothic building with a chancel supported by stepped buttresses.

The portal from the late 14th century was relocated from the northern street side to the southern inner courtyard. It is decorated with profiled jambs, foliage and rosettes in the capital zone. The tympanum relief depicts the Man of Sorrows with the kneeling donor family. The corbels are adorned with half-figures and coats of arms. A mural dating from the late 17th century on the northern exterior wall shows the Coronation of the Virgin above depictions of the poor and crippled. A carved stone head embedded in the southern wall is likely of medieval origin.

The nave is covered by a Baroque lunette barrel vault supported by robust polygonal wall piers. Evidence from a sealed window in the south wall suggests that the original vault was significantly higher. A pointed triumphal arch opens into a lower, single-bay choir with a 5/8 termination and a ribbed vault supported by wall-mounted consoles. Decorative keystones in the choir depict rosettes and a tree of life motif. Some of the original Gothic tracery windows have been altered or filled in. A Gothic iron door on the south side of the choir leads to a sacristy with a groin vault.