Description of the attraction
The Franciscan monastery is located in Villach. In 1886, due to the small number of priests, Bishop Gurka Peter Funder asked the Franciscan monasteries in Tyrol to take care of the parish of St. Nicholas in Villach. In the same year, the first Franciscans arrived in Villach and occupied the former Capuchin monastery, abandoned in 1786.
The monastery and the neighboring church had become so dilapidated that after a while they decided to demolish them and rebuild them. Most of the funds for the construction were allocated by Stefan Dionysus Cherveny from Zabor. The new monastery of the Franciscans was built in 1888.
The demolition of the old church took place in 1890-1891. The new temple and altar for it were built according to the plan of the Franciscan priest Johannes Maria Reiter and consecrated in 1896. The Franciscans began to actively support the local parish. In 1945, the church of St. Nicholas was damaged by a bomb explosion. It was partially restored after the Second World War. Several more reconstructions of the church took place in the second half of the 20th century. In 1981, the crypt of the temple was transformed into another hall for worship.
The Church of St. Nicholas was built in the neo-gothic style. Its nave is 17 meters high, and the tower is 64 meters high. Since the temple was built by order of the Franciscans who arrived from Tyrol, some Tyrolean craftsmen also worked on the design of the church. The altar was made by the carpenter Clemens Raffener from Schwaz, the statue of St. Nicholas and the numerous reliefs were made by the sculptor Josef Bachlechner from Hall in Tirol. The nave was painted by the painter Emanuel Walch, like the rest of the masters who came from Tyrol.
