If you attend a service in the small Roman Catholic church Sankt Maria in the Liesertal north of Gmünd in Carinthia, you might find that the pastor has to pause the sermon for an unusual reason: A road runs through the middle of the church. While the pastor preaches his sermon in the sanctuary on the east side of the road, the churchgoers sit in the building on the opposite side of the road. As early as 1443, a Marterl (a wayside shrine erected on roads and paths to encourage…
