Catholic parish church of St. George, Ruschein

History

The church is already mentioned in the Carolingian imperial charter of around 840 with tithing rights in the possession of the royal monastery of Pfäfers, and it also appears later in the records of this monastery. The patronage of St. George was first mentioned there in 1440. There are no surviving parts from the early Middle Ages, the tower from the Romanesque period. In 1493, at least the vaulted choir was rebuilt, and perhaps the nave as well. A record from 1643 reports that the nave had a flat wooden ceiling. There was a Gothic shrine altar in the choir, of which only two figures remain. In 1900, the nave was taken down and a new church with a west-facing choir was built. The late Gothic chancel remained as a vestibule.

Building description

Nave and chancel modern, 1900-1902. The old chancel serves as a vestibule. It is closed on three sides and covered with a star vault, whose simple grooved ribs grow out of profiled console stumps. There is a simple sacrament niche in the south wall.The tower stands to the north and belongs to the Romanesque period. Round arch friezes on the 3rd and 4th storeys. Simple round-arched windows on the 3rd floor. Baroque domed helmet.Wall paintings: old paintings of Mary Magdalene and Mary from the 17th century were discovered in 1935.

Furnishings

Baptismal font cabinet with Régence decoration and curved pediment, crowned by a group of the Baptism in the Jordan. Polygonal pulpit with scaled pilasters. Original chime with carved handle in the shape of a primitively designed lion. Bells with inscriptions 1830 and 1881, Jos. Ant. Grasmayr, Feldkirch.Art objects that have migrated: Crucifix on a branch cross in Disentis Monastery. Wooden sculpture of St. George from the end of the 15th century in the Peterelli house in Savognin. In the Swiss National Museum: late Gothic wooden sculpture of a standing Virgin Mary, around 1505.

(Text recorded by: Regiun Surselva)