Awesome Alpine Adventure: Day 3 - WILTEN BASILICA

Day 3 -  WILTEN  BASILICA- Innsbruck

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We were given a tour of the city.  One of the first stops we had was here at this Basilica. 

One thing that took some getting used to was the fact that the churches and the government are not separate and as such the government maintained the churches.   Our guide told us that this does not sit well with the young people because they do not like their taxes going to support the churches.
But to me they are such a work of art that it is good the government does maintain them.  It would be such a loss to loose these exquisite pieces of architecture and art.

  This church has been around since the 14th century but in 1755 Franz de Paula  Penz erected the current structure that is here today.  The frescoes on the ceilings and walls were done by  Matthaus Gunther and the stuccos by Anton Gigi.

When we got there it was pouring down rain.  I didn't even realize this was the place we were going to be stopping at when I took this picture.  I just thought it was an interesting building - so different from what we are used to seeing.

 Here's some more outside views of it

Then you go in and am captivated by the beauty of it.  I was surprise to see people with their cameras out taking pictures.  We were told that we could take pictures later but first they were going to tell us about the church. So at first I didn't take any pictures.   It was hard to pay attention when all you could do was look and marvel at everything and wanted to take its picture.  Once they let us be on our own I didn't know were to start taking pictures so I just turned off my flash and started shooting.  Since there was no flash a lot did not turn out and a lot of them were blurry since I wasn't able to check them after I took them. I could have spent a lot more time there but was happy with some of the photos I got.  

Being raised catholic the first thing I had to check out was the alter. And boy was it something else. 

The alter of Wilten Basilica - Innsbruck

The one thing that surprised me was to see that the cross was not there front and center like it usually is in most of the churches I've  ever been too.  Instead there was this red thing that I wasn't too sure what it was.  Here's a cropped image of it.

The best I could tell it was a Modonna and child.    Still very pretty and striking.

The catholic in me knew there had to be a cross and I went looking for it.  It was on the side wall.

We were still sitting in the pews and even the pews were ornately carved.  So I took some pictures of them.  The one thing about these pews were the backs were very uncomfortable and you could tell people didn't like sitting in them for very long.

 Just look at how the edge juts out. 

They had these elaborate stations of the cross.  I didn't have enough time to take all of them but I did take a few.

 The one thing I always liked about going to church was listening to the music and of course I was curious as to what type of music they had.
Just look at this spectacular organ.

I wished I could have heard it playing.

I couldn't tell if this was the pulpit where announcements were made or if it just was a remote place for a wealthy person to sit but I sure did think it was very unique.  This was looking back at it.

 I liked the angles on it. Here's what it looked like as you walked into the church.

  I really liked the flooring in the place too.

They had these side alcoves with these shrines set up.  This is a better look at that shrine.

 Another shrine that was there.

Even the windows were pretty.

Just look at this candelabra. 

 Even the ceiling was decorated.

 

This was in a side chapel.

Since this was a church they even had a burial ground next to it. 

Across from it was another church but I wasn't too sure what the connection was.  I was wondering if that might not be the Abbey since there was suppose to be an Wilten Abbey Basilica too.

Here's what it looked like from Bergisel Ski Area

I wished we could have spent more time but this was our first stop and we had a lot more of the city to see.

I need to thank my husband and the group that I was with.  You know who you are -  Thanks!!