Sankt Nikolaus, Parish church and cemetery in Elbigenalp, Austria

Sankt Nikolaus is a baroque parish church in Elbigenalp, its broad three-bay nave lit by large round-arched windows and circular windows in the first bay. A steep shingle-covered saddle roof spans the nave and the recessed choir with its three-eighth close. The tall Gothic tower stands northeast of the nave, and a walled cemetery with two chapels surrounds the church.

The original parish in the Lechtal Valley traces back to 1312, with church construction beginning around 1300 and expansions occurring in the 15th century. This building phase reflects the community's growth and the importance of the religious life in the valley.

The church is dedicated to Saint Nicholas, and his rescue of a Christian slave from a pagan prince's court is painted above the organ gallery. In the choir, the "Glorie of St Nicholas" shows men and women in Lechtal costume, tying the saint's veneration to valley dress.

The church stands on flat open ground outside the built-up centre, ringed by a walled cemetery; the two chapels are set into that wall, the Martins/Magdalenen chapel in the northeast corner and the war memorial chapel in the southwest. The Gothic tower rises at the northeast of the nave. Interior paintings by Johann Jakob Zeiller are best seen in daylight.

On the west wall above the upper sacristy hangs a fresco painted around 1450/1460 by a Swabian artist, showing Christ as Judge of the World in a mandorla. Two trumpet-blowing angels surround him, with Mary, John and James on the left and Peter on the right. It predates the Zeiller ceiling paintings by more than three centuries.