Attraction Church of St. Johannes der Täufer

Parish church in Unterleutasch, district of Unterkirchen

Description

In contrast to Oberleutasch, Unterleutasch did not have its own church before the 19th century. The people of Unterleutasch were parishioners of the Bavarian Mittenwald, to which they belonged ecclesiastically since ancient times. It was not until the year 1803 that a court decree from Emperor Franz II permitted the construction of a church, but due to the military events of 1805 and the subsequent Bavarian rule, the construction project could not be realized. Only in mid-1827 did a decree from the court chancellery approve the construction. At the end of that year, work officially began: Under the community leader Matthias Reindl as building director and the responsible road master Johann von Klebelsberg, to whom the construction plans are probably attributed, Josef Waldhart from Imst built church and presbytery by the end of 1829.

A sober nave with a retracted, straight adjoining choir was created. Both components are covered by a hipped roof, pierced by a tower in the west. Through the windbreak installed in 1955, one enters the interior with the round, former baptismal chapel and the organ loft in the front bay, to which a square nave illuminated by semicircular windows with a flat hanging dome is attached. The western open archway leads to the vaulted barrel ceiling of the rectangular choir. Unterleutasch, which at the time consisted of 18 households, relied largely on donations for the church furnishings. However, a given altar from Reutte and a tabernacle from Oberperfuss could not be accepted for the newly built church, and so, through the mediation of the Oberleutasch curate Franz Sieß, a new altar was commissioned from Franz Xaver Renn in Imst for an already existing altar painting. This painting, depicting a sermon of St. John the Baptist in metallic hard colors, is a work from the late 18th century by the painter Josef Leibherr, who was born in Imst. In 1978, the church was restored. The nazarenes' "embellishments" were removed, which both churches in Leutasch (St. John the Baptist Unterleutasch & St. Magdalena Oberleutasch) had received from Johann Kärle after their elevation to parishes in 1891, and the original state was restored.