Maria Gail

Maria Gail is an important center of pilgrimage in Carinthia since centuries. It is locally claimed, that Langobardian missionaries may have founded Maria Gail within the 6th century.

The church was mentioned the first time in 1136. The once massive Romanesque church got enlarged (in Gothic style) between 1400 and 1450. In 1478 the church got severely damaged by Turkish troops during the Ottoman incursions. It got rebuilt and re-consecrated in 1486.

During a renovation in 1950 late Romanesque frescoes (13th.) were discovered under the plaster along the walls of the nave.

Fixed onto the southern outer wall outise are some Romanesque scupltures, that probably originate from the preciding church, that got ruined by the Turkish troops.

These two angels belonged once to a large "Last Judgement"-group. The right one blows the horn, while the left one is (smiling!) Archangel St. Michael, who holds the scale for the "Weighing of the Souls".