The church of Sta. Maria is the oldest and most beautiful church in Pontresina. As if that was not enough, it is one of the most precious sacred buildings in the canton of grisons. The walls are decorated with frescoes that were covered in the iconoclasm of the Reformation.
The first restoration by Christian Schmidt from Zurich took place as early as 1913. He was followed by Charles Lefébure from Brussels, who continued the work in a huge, minutely detailed work. Both had to work with the rather primitive means of the time, so that some frescoes suffered from it. The work was completed by Oskar Emmenegger.
The church is first mentioned in a document on April 20, 1450, with the patron saint's house "Santa Maria", which, however, was temporarily or permanently converted into "Maria Magdalena" in 1522.
The nature of the frescoes suggests that this transformation took place before 1500. The Romanesque layout of the church, with a nave with a late Gothic flat ceiling and a vaulted apse with a semicircular floor plan, makes it easy to see that the current building is the continuation of an older one.
Opening hours church Sta. Maria
Summer/ automn
| 7th june to 24th june | monday, wednesday and friday | 3.30 - 5.30 pm |
| 27st june to 21th october | monday until friday | 3.30 - 5.30 pm |
Public evening devotions
| 13th juli to 10th august | wednesday | 5.35 pm |
Guided Tours
Guided tours in summer: from 15th June to 19th October, every Wednesday at 5pm
Guide: local church guides
Meeting point: at 5pm in front of the church
Duration: 30 minutes
Fee: Free of charge. Private tours are available for CHF 70.-
Registration: until 12am on the same day, at +41 81 838 83 00
Language: German