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/autumn 2024
| 10th June until 21th June | Mo., We. and Fr. | 3.30 - 5.30 pm |
| 24th June until 18th October | Mo. until Fr. | 3.30 - 5.30 pm |
Evening devotions
| 10th July until 14th August | Wedensday | at 5.35 pm |
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