Bad Reichenhall - St. Nikolaus

In 1181 Archbishop Adalbert III gave his ok to the pious dwellers of Reichenhall for the erection of a parish church. 10 years later, St. Nikolaus, a three nave basilica, got consecrated. Another five years later, Reichenhall was burnt down by the Archbishop´s troops over some dispute. The church did not got damaged at that time, but had to be rebuilt after the great fire in Reichenhall in 1515.

It got rebuilt, altered, repaired - and in the 1860s got enlarged in Neo-Romanesque style. The medieval tower got demolished and replaced. The carvings that once decorated the Romanesque tower were saved - and saved in this frieze around the southern side apse.

A detail of the frieze. A lion, compared to that masterly carved lions, guarding the doors at St. Zeno, not even two kms north, this is a pretty naive style.