Katholische Pfarrkirche heiliger Johannes der Täufer

Katholische Pfarrkirche heiliger Johannes der Täufer stands in Ebelsberg, a district of Linz in Upper Austria. This Roman Catholic parish church belongs to the Linz-Süd deanery and has protected-monument status. Its parish has been independent since 1250, while the church first appears in documents from 1263. The surrounding cemetery moved to the junction of Wiener Straße and Florianer Straße in 1787.

Napoleon’s troops destroyed the church during the Battle of Ebelsberg in 1809. Bishop Gregor Thomas Ziegler consecrated the rebuilt church in 1829. In 1908, the apse gained a Jugendstil design with mosaics by Leopold Forstner and reliefs by Wilhelm Bormann. This remains the only Jugendstil apse in Upper Austria. Its imagery brings together Aaron, Peter, Paul and Melchisedek with grain, grapes, a menorah and a harp.

The semicircular vault shows Christ’s baptism by John the Baptist through a vivid mosaic scene. Christ appears as a lamb above seven rainbow-coloured springs representing the Jordan River. A cemetery chapel became a branch church in 1998, and a parish centre with a carillon followed between 2007 and 2009. These details place medieval origins, wartime destruction and twentieth-century art within one church.