Martin M. Miles' photos with the keyword: Battle of Calven

Many churches, chapels and abbeys all over continental Europe claim to be founded by Charlemagne. Saint John Abbey in the village of Müstair (= monasterium) is - most likely - founded in deed by Charlemagne or a bishop under Charles´ order around 774. At that time Charlemagne fought war against the Langobards in Northern Italy and needed save and secure passes over the Alps for his army. Fortified monasteries played an important role in this strategy. Dendrochronological surveys found out, that some of the beams used for the construction cut around 775, what is, when Charlemagne´s soldiers conquered the Lombardy. The "Benediktinerinnenkloster St. Johann", today still a Benedictine nunnery, is since 1983 a UNESCO World Heritage Site. - A convent that old of course owns valuable, very old treasures. The nuns run a museum here with some really extraordinary objects. These fragments were found during excavations. The carvings are parts of a former existing rood screen, that got probably destroyed when raiders set fire to the convent in the Battle of Calven (1499). Seen to the left is St. John the Baptist. Matthew 3:4 "John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey."

An "ecclesia sancte Marie" is mentioned already in 1292, when the small town must have had at least five churches. This probably Romanesque church got rebuilt mid 15th century after it burnt down, when in 1499 after the Battle of Calven "Bündner" troops (from "Graubünden" now part of Switzerland) looted Mals. The church got rebuilt, but again severely damaged by Napoleon´s armee in 1799. The church got reconstructed and enlarged in the early 19th century, it got consecrated in 1838. In 1914 the choir of Maria Himmelfahrt was painted by Austrian artist Emanuel Raffeiner in art deco style.

An "ecclesia sancte Marie" is mentioned already in 1292, when the small town must have had at least five churches. This probably Romanesque church got rebuilt mid 15th century after it burnt down, when in 1499 after the Battle of Calven "Bündner" troops (from "Graubünden" now part of Switzerland) looted Mals. The church got rebuilt, but again severely damaged by Napoleon´s armee in 1799. The church got reconstructed and enlarged in the early 19th century, it got consecrated in 1838. Up on the gallery some bored parishioners carved in their initials.