Description of the attraction
The Church of Our Lady is a small Gothic church with a crypt and an imposing bell tower, located in the old cemetery of Kitzbühel next to the parish church of St. Andrew. The tower of the Church of Our Lady is considered a symbol of Kitzbühel. Thanks to the miraculous image on the high altar, this church is often visited by pilgrims.
The temple was probably built in the second half of the 14th century as a simple Gothic cemetery chapel. It was first mentioned in documents from 1373. In those days, only a small turret towered over the northern part of the sacred building. The current 48-meter high bell tower appeared in 1566-1569. It was built by master William Egarter. Currently, it contains two large bells, but immediately after construction, only one huge bell was placed here, which was bought in 1518 for the parish church. But upon closer inspection of the bell, it turned out that it was too large for the slender tower of the parish church of St. Andrew. Therefore, for quite a long time the bell was in an open wooden belfry next to the church. In order for the bell to receive a permanent home, it was decided to build a bell tower of a suitable size over the Church of Our Lady.
The Church of Our Lady consists of an upper church, the main decoration of which is a baroque altar with a miraculous image, a lower church and a church tower. There is a crypt at the bottom of the church. The interior of the temple is decorated in a baroque manner. Craftsmen Hans Singer and Simon Benedict Festenberger worked on it in 1738-1740.
