Laas - St. John the Baptist

Laas is known for the white marble quarried here, which has been used in buildings world-wide. Even the sidewalks of the streets in Laas are covered with marble.

When the parish church "Johannes der Täufer" (= John the Baptist) got renovated in the early 1970s, foundations of a much smaller, single-nave Carolingian church were found.

This church was replaced by a larger church built from marble blocks around 1200. The Romanesque church then got renovated on Gothic style 300 years later and enlarged during the 19th century.
During the renovation of the 1970s so many marble blocks and Romanesque carvings were found, that it was possible to "reconstruct" the Romanesque apse.

Here is a closer look on that apse. Most carvings a er damaged, what is no wonder after they were judged as rubble around 1500.