Parish Church of St. Nicholas (Innsbruck)

St. Nicholas is the Catholic parish church in the same-named Innsbruck district on the Inn’s left bank.The current structure was built between 1881 and 1885 according to plans by Friedrich von Schmidt and is regarded Tyrol’s most notable neo-Gothic church architecture.

The neo-Gothic structure is a three-aisled hall church with a transept, polygonal chancel, and tent roof.The outside is supported by buttresses, which are connected by funeral arcades.Tracery decorates the lofty linked lancet windows.The north-west corner tower features a pointed spire.

The church faces west, and the east entry front is beautifully constructed.Three sculptures were constructed in 1904 beneath eyelids in front of a gold mosaic background above the double gate.They were designed by Johann Posch of Hall and depict Mary with the infant, flanked by church patrons Nikolaus and Martin.A seven-piece rosette surrounds a pointed arch above it.Blind niches with mosaics of the four evangelists and the prophets Daniel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, created by Michael Stolz and edited by theNeuhauser’s mosaic institute, were executed in the stepped pediment.A Salvator statue by Julius Blaas stands in the middle.

The four-bay interior has a ribbed vault over octagonal pillars with round services, as well as a front bay with the organ gallery above four arches towards the east.The space is clearly defined by horizontal and vertical features, and the continuous height of the central nave and presbytery adds to the illusion that it is larger.The aisles have been lowered somewhat.Franz and Karl Jobst painted the vault with tendril paintings and saint images between 1888 and 1896.

The high altar, a winged altar, was built in 1891 by Josef Andergassen to a design by Friedrich von Schmidt and Josef Schmid.Serafin Eberhart made the polychrome statues.A towering tabernacle designed by Jakob Rappel divides the shrine in the center; the statues on the left symbolize Sts. Sebastian and Florian, while the figures on the right represent Sts. Nicholas and Martin. The inner wings depict reliefs depicting Jesus’ birth and the Magi’s adoration.When the shrine is closed, scenes from the Passion of Christ painted by Hans Rabensteiner can be seen on the outer edges of the wings.Sts. Peter and Paul sculptures surround the shrine.In the high blast, there are sculptures of St. Katharina and Barbara, a cross at the top, and Maria and Johannes below.

Josef Schmid created the right side altar (Josef altar) in 1896.Alois Winkler created the Death of St. Joseph in the shrine, the sculptures of St. Barbara, John of God, and Camillus in the altar gable, and the blessing Christ in the predella in 1899. Josef Bachlechner the Elder produced the wing reliefs depicting scenes from St. Josef’s life.

Josef Schmid designed the left side altar (Marienaltar) in 1896, and Clemens Raffeiner constructed and painted it.Alois Winkler sculpted the sculpture of Mary with child, the scenes from Mary’s life on the inner wings, and the three archangels at the top, while St. Johann Ertl painted Joachim, Anna with Mary, and angels on the outside wings.

Josef Bachlechner the Elder designed the transept altars, which were intended like winged altars.The Sacred Heart of Jesus altar, built in 1906 in the right transept, has a high relief in the shrine with the oath of the state of Tyrol to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, St. Isidor and Notburga on the inner wings, St. Wendelin and Isidor on the outer wings, and The Last Supper in the predella.

The Holy Spirit altar, built in 1910 in the left transept, depicts the sending of the Holy Spirit in high relief in the shrine, Jesus’ baptism and ordination to the priesthood on the inner wing, the Annunciation on the outer wings, and the giving of confirmation in the predella.

Josef Schmid designed the choir stalls, which were built in 1894 by Franz Egg and cabinetmaker Möslein.Alois Winkler created the sculptures of John the Baptist and David.

Josef Bachlechner the Elder planned the pulpit on the left crossing pillar, which was built in 1923, partially by himself and, after his death, by his students Heinrich Ludwig and Gottfried Köstler.Five sculptures of Old Testament heroes ( Abraham, Moses, John the Baptist, David, and Elijah ) stand at the foot of the pulpit, with medallions of Christ and the four evangelists above them.The parapet is adorned with four reliefs showing New Testament scenes: Jesus and the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well, the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus at the house of Martha and Mary, and Jesus installing Peter as head of the church.A sculpture of the Trinity may be found in the towering sound cover that stretches all the way to the ceiling.

Other highlights are Josef Bachlechner’s Stations of the Cross, a rosary image by Alois Winkler on the right crossing pillar, and a Pietà from the first half of the 18th century in the left aisle.

The stained glass windows were created by the Tyrolean Glass Painting and Mosaic Institute between 1885 and 1902.The sacrifices of Melchizedek and Abraham are depicted in the presbytery, events from the lives of St. Nicholas and Martin are depicted in the nave, Herz Jesu and Margareta Maria Alacoque are depicted in the transept, and St. Peter and Pope Leo XIII are depicted opposite.

The marble, mosaic-decorated baptismal font, a crucifix by Josef Knabl, and the gravestone of O. Getzner (1519) from the ancient cemetery may also be found in the anteroom.

Six bells, made by Friedrich Hamm in Salzburg in 1931, hang on the tower.They weigh 2589, 1580, 1105, 771, 440, and 325 kg and are constructed of 78% copper and 22% tin.Except for the tallest bell, all of the bells were removed in February 1942 and transferred to the Montanwerke Brixlegg to be melted down for war purposes.They were uninjured, though, and returned to St. Nicholas in June 1945.