The first Protestant temple for sale in Austria. The church cannot afford it

In Austria, a Protestant temple was put up for sale for the first time, said Dace Dislere -Musta, pastor of the Gmuend -Waidhofen An der Thaya Evangelical parish. Local community cannot afford to maintain the building. Until now, only the Catholic Church was forced to sell temples in Austria.

Over the past years, several temples belonging to the Catholic Church have been sent for sale in Austria. Now the first sacred building has appeared on the real estate market owned by the Protestant church. It is a temple in Heidenreichstein in the Gangelick parish Gmend -Waidhofen An der Thaya. Although the community has only 480 faithful, it has three temples: the Church of Peace in Gmend, the Church of the Good News in Waidhofen and the Church of Reconciliation in Heidenreichstein.

As the local Pastor Dislere -Musta said in an interview with ORF, Only 36 faithful belong to the church in Heidenreichstein. Therefore, they cannot afford to maintain the temple. The matter is complicated by the fact that the damaged roof of the building requires urgent renovation.

The sale of the church is very painful for the parish – said Dislere -Musta, while reminding that this issue has been raised at parish meetings for over three years.

The decision of the local community is also supported by the authorities of the Evangelical Church in Lower Austria, which share the view that investing in the temple in Heidenreichstein is not justified as the parish has two other churches. The building is to be sold for approx. 250 thousand. euro, and the whole process will be carried out by the real estate agency.

Tomasz D. Jędruchów (PAP)

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