Old Parish Church of Gries in Bolzano

Around the Piazza Gries square in Bolzano (Bozen), several majestic buildings rise. Already in Roman times there was a settlement here, which was called "Chellare" or "Cheller". So Gries came into being, once an independent municipality and now a district of Bolzano. The late Gothic Church of Our Lady there was built at the beginning of the 15th century and served as a parish church until 1788, then the monastery church of Muri-Gries took over. Since 1977, the Old Parish Church of Gries has been under monumental protection.

It houses several art treasures: the Romanesque Hepperger Cross, a wooden crucifix from the 13th century, probably from northern France, and the Gothic winged altar by Michael Pacher, called the Coronation Altar of the Virgin Mary (1471-75). The work is considered the pinnacle of Gothic carving and can be seen in the Erasmus Chapel, which was added to the south side of the choir in 1519. The historical cemetery of the church is also worth a visit, among other things the grave of the k.u.k. Minister Bernhard von Wüllerstorf-Urbair, who led the expedition of the frigate Novara, the first and only circumnavigation of the world by the Austrian Navy.