The Kreuzkirche

 

On 25^th July 1703 Zirl’s Innbrücke was a particularly highly contested place. It was burnt down by the Tirol freedom fighters; the bridge-cross fell into the inn,

unburnt. It was fished from the Inn at the ‘Heiligkreuzstollen’ beneath Pill by a Tirol sentry under Kaspar Norer and kept in a provisional chapel made out of wood. The cross was soon regarded as miraculous, and pilgrims came to see it. Bernhard Kiechl the curate in Pill around the middle of the 18^th century started building a large walled church in 1764, which was inaugurated on 25th July 1766 by the Brixen Bishop Leopold Graf Spaur. The splendid frescoes by Christoph Anton Mayr are especially characterful, and make Kreuzkirche one of the most beautiful Baroque churches in Tirol. During its last renovation in 1981, due to its proximity to the main road, it was raised by 1.5 metres and moved back 5 metres.

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