Description of the attraction
St. Hippolytus Church is a real gem of the city of Zell am See. During its reconstruction in 1972-1975, two stones with Celtic carvings were discovered in the northern crypt. According to some scholars, this find may indicate that a pagan temple was previously located on the site of the church of St. Hippolytus. Other historians believe that stones, as a symbol of the victory of Christianity over paganism, were walled up in the foundation of the church. Upon closer examination, the stones were found to be much older than the building material used for the early Gothic apse and the Romanesque nave.
Probably, the church of St. Hippolytus was built on the site of an old monastery, founded in the second half of the 8th century. The elongated nave, 32 meters long and 8 meters wide, and the crypt were erected in the 10th century. In the XII century, the building was rebuilt beyond recognition. Currently, the church of St. Hippolytus has three naves. The five-story tower with stepped pediments is 36 meters high. It is decorated with Gothic friezes.
The pearl of the interior of the temple can be called a gallery with a beautiful parapet. The gallery is supported by pillars of precious marble. Between 1660 and 1670, a baroque altar was delivered to the church, which was replaced in 1760 with a new piece. It is decorated with two ancient statues created in 1480: the figures of Saints Rupert and Virgil.
The chapel contains the miraculous image of the Madonna and Child, created in 1540 and transferred here in 1773 from the church of Mary Wold, which had been damaged by fire three years earlier. In the left side-altar, which is located in a semicircular apse with beautiful stained-glass windows, there is a small altar of St. Sebastian.
