The high altar

Altarpiece of the Assumption

The centrepiece of the collegiate church is the mighty columned high altar and the altarpiece of the Assumption of Mary. It is also by Sandrart, who considers this painting and all his other altarpieces to be his best works. In art history, however, Sandrart has a rather sobering reputation. For a long time he has been regarded as a well-behaved and conventional 17th-century painter who possessed little original power and had more talent for imitation and replication.

During his lifetime, however, he was much celebrated. This is also due to his connections and patrons. Among them are Maximilian I of Bavaria, Emperor Ferdinand III and the Roman King Ferdinand IV. In gratitude for his many portrait paintings of the Austrian nobility, he himself received the peerage.

There are also larger-than-life statues of four saints here: St Killian, St Maximilian, the first bishop of Lauriacum, who gave away his great inheritance of his estate to his slaves and went on pilgrimage to Rome to proclaim his faith. For 20 years he is an itinerant bishop until he is beheaded during the persecution of Christians under Emperor Numerian.

Also to be seen is St. Catherine with the wheel. She is depicted with a wheel because the Romans want to tear her apart with a wheel in an amphitheatre during the persecution of the Christians. However, an angel hears her prayers and smashes the wheel. Due to the force of the blow, the wheel splinters and allegedly killing 4000 pagans who witness the spectacle. According to current research, St. Catherine is a purely fictional person. Nevertheless, she is regarded as a helper in cases of language difficulties and tongue problems, and is the patron saint of schools, philosophical faculties, seamstresses and tailors.

Another saint immortalised as a statue is St Barbara. She is one of the most famous martyrs of the 3rd century. Her own father beheads her because she will not give up her Christian faith and her virginal devotion to God. Since the Counter-Reformation, she has been considered the patron saint of miners. She is also the patron saint of artillery and in this respect is often depicted with a cannon, in the hope that the artillery will hit its targets in the same way that lightning hit Dioscuros after he had beheaded his daughter.

There is also a folk poem about the holy virgins, which includes Margaret with the Worm (Margaret of Antioch), to memorise the names of the saints:

Margaret with the Worm,

Barbara with the tower,

Catherine with the wheel,

these are the three holy girls.

Margaret is often depicted with a worm or a dragon, because before her execution in prison a dragon appeared to her and wanted to devour her. However, when she makes the sign of the cross, she saves herself through her faith.

These three virgin saints also belong to the group of (quattuor) Virgines Capitales, the virgin martyrs of the early Church. Alongside Catherine, Margaret and Barbara, Dorothea also belongs to this group.

Dorothea was supposed to marry the pagan town governor in her hometown, but she refused because of his false beliefs. Another pagan named Theophilus wants to turn to the Christian faith if Dorothea brings him flowers and fruit from the town governor's garden. She then brings Theophilus a basket of flowers and fruit. The governor is so enraged because Dorothea has stolen from his garden that he beheads them both. That is why Dorothea is depicted today with a basket of flowers and fruit. However, she is not as well known as the other three saints.