San Candido Collegiate Church

In San Candido village in the Upper Val Pusteria, the powerful Romanesque St. Candidus and St. Corbinian Collegiate Church - "Stiftskirche Innichen" in German, "Collegiata di San Candido" in Italian - is located. It was built around 1280, when the Benedictine Monastery of St. Candidus was converted into a Collegiate Monastery and required a Collegiate Church.

The bell tower was added in the following century (1320-1326). The church, a three-aisled basilica, has two chapels: the Dorotheen Chapel and the Auxiliary Saints Chapel. Particularly worth seeing are the late-Romanesque dome frescoes from the period of construction, which tell the Creation Story, the Crucifixion Group in the choir, a masterpiece of Romanesque sculpture art, and the three-aisled crypt, which is located under the altar. The chapter house of the San Candido Monastery, the oldest one of Tyrol, nowadays houses the Collegiate Museum San Candido.

There, you can admire sacral art, the Cathedral Treasure, books from the 15th to the 18th century and an impressive collection of manuscripts in various exhibition rooms. And how to reach the church? It is located in the village centre and is visible from afar thanks to its fortified exterior and green roofs. There are several parking spaces near the church and the adjacent town hall. Also the "Pusterbike" Cycle Path starts in San Candido, which snakes its way through the Val Pusteria valley.