Pfarrkirche St. Ulrich

The church, built in Baroque style, was extensively renovated only a few years ago and is one of the most beautiful sacred buildings in the entire Gail and Lesach Valley. The impressive Baroque hall building is surrounded by a beautifully maintained cemetery with a surrounding wall, and the facades are artfully decorated with architectural painting, columns, and window frames. The ceiling frescoes by Anton and Josef Anton Zoller from 1764 show significant scenes such as Communion and symbolic representations from the Old Testament. The parish church of St. Ulrich was built by pastor and church builder Franz de Paula Penz at the request of the community between 1762 and 1783, as the miraculous power of the so-called Tabernacle Madonna - a copy of the Waldauf Madonna in Hall in Tirol - increasingly triggered pilgrimages. A special custom in Obertilliach is "Zutagegehen". From the 1st Sunday in October until Palm Sunday, the people of Obertilliach gather at 4 AM in the parish church to pray a rosary. Furthermore, in summer, the church bells ring at 5 AM and at 7 PM. This tradition dates back to the prayer ringing of earlier times. At the stroke of the bell, people paused briefly, said a prayer, and only then continued their work.