The Parish Church of Urtijëi located in the town of Urtijëi

Urtijëi

Urtijëi is a town of 4,637 inhabitants in South Tyrol, in the Italian region of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol. It occupies the Val Gardena within the Dolomites, a mountain chain that is part of the Alps...

 in Val Gardena in South Tyrol

South Tyrol

South Tyrol , also known by its Italian name Alto Adige, is an autonomous province in northern Italy. It is one of the two autonomous provinces that make up the autonomous region of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol. The province has an area of and a total population of more than 500,000 inhabitants...

, Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 is dedicated to the Epiphany and to Saint Ulrich

Ulrich of Augsburg

Saint Ulrich , sometimes spelled Uodalric or Odalrici, was Bishop of Augsburg and a leader of the Roman Catholic Church in Germany. He was the first saint to be canonized.-Family:...

.

It was built in the years 1792–1796 in the neoclassical

Neoclassical architecture

Neoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, manifested both in its details as a reaction against the Rococo style of naturalistic ornament, and in its architectural formulas as an outgrowth of some classicizing...

 style with some baroque

Baroque

The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...

 elements by the tyrolean

Tyrolean

Tyrolean may refer to:* Anything from Tyrol* Tyrolean Aerial Tramway* Tyrolean Airways* Tyrolean hat* Tyrolean traverse, mountaineering manoeuvre* Tyrolean Hound* A type of cement render, applied by a hand-operated machine...

 master Joseph Abenthung and the interior domes painted by the tyrolean brothers Franz Xaver and Josef Kirchebner .

The church contains a great number of sculptures, mostly in wood, carved by artists from Val Gardena.

On the corners of the presbytery there are four plaster statues, created by Johann Dominik Mahlknecht for this church but never casted in bronze, representing the four Evangelists

Four Evangelists

In Christian tradition the Four Evangelists are Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the authors attributed with the creation of the four Gospel accounts in the New Testament that bear the following titles:*Gospel according to Matthew*Gospel according to Mark...

.

The following are some of the artists who contributed to the artworks in the church:

• Ferdinand Demetz
• Jakob Crepaz
• Anton Demetz
• :de:Franz Xaver Kirchebner
• :de:Johann Dominik Mahlknecht
• :de:Josef Mersa
• Vinzenz Peristi
• Albin Pitscheider
• :de:Ludwig Moroder
• :de:Rudolf Moroder
• :de:Johann Baptist Moroder-Lusenberg

Literature

• Margareth Runggaldier Mahlknecht, Karl Mahlknecht. St. Ulrich in Gröden – Kirchen und Kirchengeschichte. Eine Text- und Bilddokumentation. Athesia Verlag Brixen 1992 (German)

Other projects

• Artwork in the Parish church of Urtijëi
• Dome frescos by Franz Xaver Kirchebner
• Evangelists by J.D. Mahlknecht