How to reach Malles
Once upon a time Malles was called the “Siebentürmige”, because the village had seven church towers. Today, five of these buildings have survived. The 5 still intact towers are those of the parish church Maria Himmelfahrt, the St. Benedict church from Carolingian time, the St. Martinskirche from the 12th century, the tower of the St. Johannskirche and the keep of the Fröhlichsburg.
The Church of St. Nicholas and the Church of St. James no longer exist.
The most important of these churches is St. Benedict, the oldest church. There you can admire some frescos from the Carolingian period or from the 9th century – the paintings belong to the oldest frescos in the German-speaking area. Historians suspect that the building stands on a Rhaetian source sanctuary. The Romanesque church tower was probably only added in the 12th century, while the church was probably built in the 8th century and is thus one of the oldest sacred buildings in the Alpine region. The church St.Benedikt can be visited once a week alone or with guided tours.
How to reach the St. Benedict church
The parish church Maria Himmelfahrt in the centre of Mals with its typical gothic church tower catches the visitor’s eye right away. The church tower was built in 1530 and is an integral part of the village.
How to reach the parish church Maria Himmelfahrt
Always closed is the church St.Martin, which dates back to the 12th century and today stands quite hidden in the middle of residential buildings. In the 16th century this small church received a gothic choir and is nowadays only rarely used for church services.
Of the St. Johann church destroyed by the French in 1799, remains only the Romanesque tower and the facade of the church on the side of the Punibach. This tower is considered to be the most beautiful of the three Romanesque towers of Mals. The former nave was converted into a residential building some time ago and thus saved from decay.