Parish Church of St. Nicholas

"Frederick, by the grace of God Bishop of Bressanone, greets all the faithful in Him who is the salvation of all!" Thus begins a letter of indulgence dated in 1391 for the original parish of Axams and its daughter churches, including that of Reith, the first documentary mention of our church. The church of Reith, however, is certainly much older, even if not in its present form. For as early as 1157, the Bavarian monasteries of Wessobrunn and Benediktbeuren began to clear the, as the documents state, "impassable wasteland of the Scharnitz valley" between Leithen and Seefeld, i.e. on the site of today's village of Reith, which had been given to them by the Bavarian Counts of Andechs. It can be assumed that the monks also gave their new settlement, which was threatened by many dangers in the middle of the Scharnitz forest, an ecclesiastical center in the form of a chapel built of wood.

They consecrated it to St. Nicholas. For a long time, Reith was still under the jurisdiction of the original parish of Axams, from where the pastoral care was also exercised. In 1751 Reith was elevated to an independent parish. It received its own pastor. Until then it had been served from Zirl. In 1832 - 1835, the nave and tower of the church were rebuilt, incorporating the late Gothic masonry. This gave it its present dimensions and shape. In 1892 a terrible fire destroyed almost the whole of Reith, including the church and the vicarage. When the church was rebuilt, the nave was raised by several meters. Benefactors donated the marble altar and the mosaic in the presbytery, with scenes from the life of St. Nicholas, the patron saint of the church.

In 1895, after the construction of the shell, the consecration of the church could take place. In the last months of the war in 1945, Reith was hit six times by bombing raids, during which the church was also affected. The war memorial chapel built in front of the portal, the organ, the church windows and the church door were completely destroyed, the interior paintings were considerably damaged. In 1950, the reconstruction was essentially completed. In 1989-1990 the interior of the church was extensively renovated. In 2011, the exterior of the parish church was extensively renovated and the original condition around 1900 was restored in terms of color scheme and arrangement. The cemetery and the mortuary chapel also underwent a redesign. In 2012 the altar, the ambo and the baptismal font were newly erected and the chancel was renovated! You can get a detailed folder about the parish church at the Bürger- und Tourismusservice Reith.