Description of the attraction
The Roman Catholic parish church of St. Vitus is located in the center of Kufstein. Saint Vitus is the same Saint Vitus to whom the famous Gothic cathedral in Prague is dedicated.
The Gothic building of the Church of St. Vitus was completed no later than 1420. It was a three-nave temple with a polygonal apse. In the years 1660-1661, the church was rebuilt in a Baroque manner, in accordance with the tastes of the time. The reconstruction of that era completely changed the appearance of the church, in the decor of which there were almost no Gothic elements. In 1840, another renovation took place in the church of St. Vitus. The sacred building was redesigned in the style of classicism. Several reconstructions of the church took place in the last century. The restorers have partially returned the Gothic look to the temple.
The most ancient interior items of the church include the classic altar, made by the Tyrolean sculptor Josef Stumpf. The altar is set on two pedestals and framed by columns with Ionic capitals. Under the gable of the altar there is a decorative frieze with floral motifs and images of the heads of angels. On the pediment you can see the famous baroque emblem of the All-Seeing Eye - a triangle with an eye in the center, surrounded by a halo. The statues of the two apostles at the altar belong to the chisel of the local sculptor Kaspar Bichler. He made them in the 19th century.
The altarpiece of the patron saint of St. Vitus Church was created by the Tyrolean artist Joseph Arnold Sr. To the left of the altar is his own painting, which depicts the Madonna, Saint Barbara and Saint Catherine of Alexandria. The canvas depicting St. Sebastian, which is to the right of the altar, was painted by the same Joseph Arnold Sr. All three paintings date from around 1840.
