St. Nikolaus in Rojen, Gothic church in Rojen, South Tyrol, Italy.

St. Nikolaus in Rojen is a chapel of whitewashed brick in the hamlet of Rojen, Graun im Vinschgau, South Tyrol. A narrow nave with a gable roof is joined through a large round-arched opening to a slightly wider square choir added around 1400, topped by a tent roof with a slender wooden square bell turret and pointed spire. Each part has one round-arched side window, and the pointed-arch entrance holds a heavy two-leaf door of local wood studded with metal nails.

The chapel dates from the Middle Ages and was altered in the 15th century during a plague outbreak, when the interior walls were coated with lime. That layer covered the frescoes for centuries until they were uncovered in more recent times.

The chapel is dedicated to St Nicholas of Myra, and a painting in the deep niche right of the main altar shows his legend: a father about to sell his three daughters, and Nicholas throwing three golden balls into the sleeping man's house. The vault also pairs the four evangelists with the four Church Fathers, Gregory, Jerome, Augustine and Ambrose, a combination customary in the Baroque period.

The chapel key is available at the Rojen/Bergkristall inn, where a deposit is required. Visitors should come prepared for a mountain setting and wear appropriate footwear for the terrain.

The bell in the wooden roof turret, cast in 1470, is rung by a rope pulled from the altar area. The lime that covered the walls during the plague was applied in the 15th and 16th centuries, so the bell was already hanging when the frescoes were whitewashed over.