St. James in Kastelaz Church

Widely visible on the Kastelaz Hill above Termeno rises a little Romanesque church. It is said, that in Roman times there was an Isis temple in this place. The present church was mentioned in 1214 in connection with the construction of a castle that no longer exists today. The famous frescoes of the chapel, which are among the oldest fresco cycles in the whole German speaking region, also date back to this initial period. They decorate the walls of the apse and depict on the ceiling Jesus Christ with the four evangelists, the 12 Apostles arranged in pairs, and Cain and Abel at the sacrifice.

In the base area, at the pedestal, however, there is the "Bestiarium": mythical hybrid creatures, half-human and half-animal and demonic powers, which stretch their claws upwards. A depiction of the cosmos: the divine and the order above, the unholy and the chaos below. On the left and on the right, an Atlas supports the sky. The Gothic side nave was realised two centuries later, in 1440, and presents frescoes by Ambrosius Gander, follower of the well-known master Hans von Bruneck. The vestry followed around 1500. From the centre of Termeno (Tramin), a short and pleasant hike leads to this little gem and to the Kastelaz Path, which continues to Cortaccia.