I love this story of a Catholic church in Austria that actually has a road running through it. At Sankt Maria, the pastor preaches from one side of the road, while the congregation sits on the other. The church started its life as a roadside shrine and was later replaced by a chapel.

It sounds like the chapel is not regularly used, and the road going through it is now a bypass, so there’s less traffic than there used to be. Still, the idea of a pastor having to pause his sermon for traffic is a strange one.

The church is regularly renovated and thus preserved, though today only a few regular services are held there. Preservation is carried out by the city of Gmünd, because in the 19th century the community representatives committed themselves by a document to keep the church forever, and this document is binding.

This would be a fascinating place to visit someday.

📷 Image Source: Johann Jaritz