Churches / Fairs

This parish church is dedicated to St. Stephen and St. Laurentius. Although very little still remains of the original Romanesque church, we know that it stood in the same place as today. However, the old church was much smaller compared with today’s construction and was also slightly tilted facing east. In 1774, an onion-like bulb was added to the tower in Baroque style. Then between 1842-1845, a new parish church was built on the site of the old one with only the 36 m high Romanesque bell tower with the Baroque bulb, still remaining. With its nave 40 m long and 15.6 m wide, the classical-style parish church is also referred to as ʺThe Cathedral on the Mountainʺ due to its unusually large size for a country church. Josef Arnold and his sons painted the frescoes on the ceilings in 1844. The paintings depict scenes of the life of the saints to whom the church is dedicated: St. Stephen and St. Laurentius. On the main altar, there is the Coronation of Mary and the illustrations along the main aisle show St. Stephen giving a sermon, his stoning, as well as the Martyrdom of St. Laurentius. The last image in front of the choir benches is a painting of St. Laurentius preaching to the poor. On the sides of the ceiling there are four smaller paintings depicting the four evangelists and scenes from the Gospels. The painting adorning the main altar is that of Peter Kachler of San Giorgio/St. Georgen near Brunico/Bruneck: Mary with the Infant Jesus and the two Deacons, Stephen and Laurentius; Holy Masses in Laion and San Pietro/St. Peter.