Sankt Nikolaus

The parish church of Elbigenalp stands in the village of the same name in the Reutte district of Tirol. It is a Roman Catholic church dedicated to Saint Nicholas and belongs to the Breitenwang deanery in the Diocese of Innsbruck. The church and its walled cemetery with two chapels are protected as historic monuments. The church’s history goes back to the early 14th century, when it was first recorded in 1312. By around 1300 a small building had been erected, which was enlarged in the 15th century and again in 1674. Its tall, slender Gothic tower with a pointed helmet and double pointed-arch sound windows dominates the skyline. Inside, a broad three-bay nave is covered by a flattened barrel vault, while the two-bay choir has a similar vault and pilaster decoration. The interior is richly decorated with frescoes by Johann Jakob Zeiller from 1775–76. The vast ceiling painting in the nave shows the triumph of Christ’s redemption, and the organ loft depicts Saint Nicholas rescuing a Christian slave. The high altar, rebuilt in 1968–69, holds a late-18th-century statue of the saint by Joseph Stapf. The cemetery chapels include the Magdalene Chapel with early frescoes and a 17th-century crucifixion group, and the War Memorial Chapel with works by Rudolf Geisler-Moroder.