Description of the attraction
The dominant feature of the current ski resort of Ischgl is the Church of St. Nicholas. The first mention of a chapel dedicated to the same saint and standing on the site of a modern temple is found in written sources in 1443. The chapel was built in the Gothic style. It stood out for its slender bell tower with a narrow spire. According to the chronicler Christian Sangerl, the church tower was erected in 1459. We can see the bell tower even now. It was preserved in 1755-1757, when the old church was dismantled, and the current Baroque church was built in its place.
The spacious temple instantly turned into a kind of cultural center of the village of Ischgl. Under him, a Sunday school was opened, where everyone was taught to read and write. Many people gathered for Mass in this church. Not only residents of Ischgl came here, but also all the nearest farms. The temple is currently active. Each guest of the ski resort considers it his duty to inspect the church from the inside. In the interior of the Church of St. Nicholas, the magnificent altar, made in the Rococo style, and the exquisite stucco molding of the vault in the form of an ornament of intertwined branches, which was restored by the restorer Schwenniger in 1972-1973, are especially striking. The shrine of the temple, which pilgrims still come to worship, is a part of the hand of St. Stephen. This relic appeared here in 1794. According to local legend, one of the inhabitants of Ischgl, as part of the French army, was in Eifel and there he was able to get a particle of the relics of St. Stephen. Naturally, he took them to the church in his hometown.
