Parish Church | Biberwier

The first place of worship in the municipality of Biberwier was the chapel "auf der Geißel" - the Rochuskapelle - built in 1611 and consecrated on August 15, 1625 by the Brixen auxiliary bishop Anton v. Crosini. 60 years later (1686) the innkeeper Johann Platner received permission to build a chapel in the village itself at his own expense. This chapel, consecrated to Jesus, Mary and Joseph on October 20, 1688, was ceded to the community in 1804 by Josef Sterzinger, innkeeper at the Golden Lion, and at the same time provided free of charge with the necessary land for an extension or new construction of a church. After this chapel had become too small and also dilapidated, the community of Biberwier decided to build a new, larger parish church. The chapel was demolished and on the same ground the construction of the present church began on July 15, 1827. With indescribable zeal (so the report from a document in the tower button) the whole village participated in the procurement of the stones. Only small children and 80-year-old men and women stayed at home. These stooges amounted to a value of 15,000 guilders. In 1830 the construction was completed. On June 7, 1831, the church was consecrated by Prince-Bishop Bernard Galura in honor of St. Joseph.

The Silberleiter Gewerkschaft had the high altar made at their expense for 600 gulden. The altarpieces were made by Alois Stadler from Imst (1830/32), the statues by Franz Xaver Renn, also from Imst. In 1842 the organ was installed by Johann Georg Gröber from Innsbruck. In 1850/51 the four bells were cast by Graßmayr in Wilten, also at the expense of the union. Unfortunately, these were melted down in 1916 for war purposes. The two bells of the Rochus Chapel served as replacements until 1924 when four new bells were purchased from the same company. These also met the same fate in the 2nd World War. Only the large bell could be found undamaged after the war in Brixlegg. Only in 1957, after the casting of the three missing bells, could the ringing be fully resounded again. The ringing almost had to be silenced once again when it was discovered that the tower showed too much fluctuation when ringing. A counter pendulum system, installed in 1981, eliminated this problem for the time being. In the meantime, however, this has been removed again.


Damage of a different kind occurred in 1923, when lightning struck the tower and also damaged parts of the roof, but without igniting. The tower was repaired and re-roofed with larch shingles in 1927. Since the roof was dilapidated, it was re-roofed with plain tiles in 1953. However, these were too heavy for the roof structure, so that the roof pushed out the church walls. Hanging the walls together in the 1970s was unsuccessful.

Therefore, in 1984 the church council decided on a total renovation and already in 1985 the plain tile roof was replaced by a lighter larch shingle roof. In 1986/87 the outer facade was renewed. In 1989, preparations began for the interior renovation, which was urgently needed since not much had been done since 1929. On Whit Tuesday 1990, the church was closed for half a year and preparatory work began. The design for the ceiling and the ceiling painting were made by the Ehrwald artist Wolfgang Schennach. The restoration work, including that of the altars, the pulpit and the confessionals, was undertaken by the company Pescoller from Bruneck. The restoration work was completed by the end of August 1992. In 1997 the Gröber organ was restored by the organ builder Thomas Sittler from Biberwier and several things were reconstructed on it, such as the original disposition or the old bellows.

Een ander soort schade ontstond in 1923 toen de bliksem insloeg in de toren en ook delen van het dak beschadigde, maar zonder te ontbranden. De toren werd gerepareerd en opnieuw gedekt met lariks dakspanen in 1927. Omdat het dak vervallen was, werd het in 1953 opnieuw bedekt met gewone dakpannen. Deze waren echter te zwaar voor de dakconstructie, zodat het dak de kerkmuren naar buiten duwde. Het ophangen van de muren in de jaren 1970 was geen succes.

Daarom besloot het kerkbestuur in 1984 tot een totale renovatie en al in 1985 werd het gewone pannendak vervangen door een lichter larikshouten dak. In 1986/87 werd de buitengevel vernieuwd. In 1989 begonnen de voorbereidingen voor de renovatie van het interieur, die dringend nodig was omdat er sinds 1929 niet veel was gedaan. Op Eerste Pinksterdag 1990 werd de kerk voor een half jaar gesloten en begonnen de voorbereidende werkzaamheden. Het ontwerp voor het plafond en de plafondschildering kwam van de Ehrwald kunstenaar Wolfgang Schennach. De restauratiewerkzaamheden, inclusief die van de altaren, de preekstoel en de biechtstoelen, werden uitgevoerd door de firma Pescoller uit Bruneck. De restauratiewerkzaamheden waren eind augustus 1992 voltooid. In 1997 werd het Gröber-orgel gerestaureerd door orgelbouwer Thomas Sittler uit Biberwier en werden er verschillende zaken aan gereconstrueerd, zoals de originele dispositie of het oude balgensysteem.