Innichen Abbey
Innichen Abbey (German: Stift Innichen) is a former
History
The original nucleus of the complex was established in 769, when Duke Tassilo III of Bavaria gave to Abbot Atto of Scharnitz extended estates lands in the Puster Valley stretching from the Gsieser Bach at current Welsberg eastwards down the Drava to Anras, called India, provided that a Benedictine convent would be founded here to convert the pagan Slavs who had settled in the principality of Carantania.[3][4] When Atto became Bishop of Freising in 783, he added Innichen to his episcopal territories. Of the original abbey construction, however, no certain traces have been found.
When the monastery was turned into a
The edifice did not undergo any substantial modification. In 1969[1] a restoration was held, removing the few minor additions it had received during the centuries (especially in Baroque times), in particular re-discovering the crypt's frescoes, which had been covered with a layer of plaster.
Description
Exterior
The church has a simple façade, in crude stone blocks. Over the central portal are two small
The rear area is more complex. The crossing is the background of a descending sequence of blocks, started by the
On the right side are a pilaster-shaped tabernacle, frescoed in the 15th century, and the Museum of the Collegiate.[1]
Interior
The interior has a nave and two aisles, the latter smaller in height, with a transept, a presbytery and three aisles. At the crossing is a crypt. This houses a 13th-century wooden sculpture portraying on the two patron saints of the church.
The dome is frescoed with the Stories of Creation, painted in the 13th century.
References
- ^ a b c d e "Romanico – La Collegiata di San Candido". Page at Suedtirol.info. Archived from the original on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
- ^ Guide di Touring Club Italiano: Piccole città, borghi e villaggi. Milan 2006
- ^ "History of Innichen at the municipality's webpage". Archived from the original on 2010-12-06. Retrieved 2010-12-04.
- ISBN 978-3-7030-0469-8.
Sources
- Kühebacher, Egon (1993). Kirche und Museum des Stiftes Innichen (in German). Bolzano: Athesia. ISBN 978-88-7014-721-6.