St. Sebastian, Cultural heritage church in Reschen am See, Italy

St. Sebastian is the parish church of Reschen, rebuilt between 1951 and 1953 to plans by Bozen architect Luis Plattner after the old church was demolished for the Reschensee reservoir. It is a hall church with a rounded, lower choir, a steep shingled gable roof and a tall square tower with a tent roof at the south-east corner. The north facade is reinforced by three buttresses, and a large coat of arms stone is set into the lintel of the main door.

A chapel dedicated to St. Sebastian and St. Fabian was consecrated in Alt-Reschen in 1472; after the plague it gained the village cemetery in 1635 and was enlarged, re-consecrated on 4 August 1662 by Chur's bishop Ulrich de Mont. A new church followed, its foundation stone laid in 1856 and consecrated in 1873 by Bishop Vinzenz Gasser. Because the Reschensee dam flooded the old village, the last Mass there was held on 10 August 1951; the replacement by Luis Plattner was consecrated on 19 May 1954.

The parish was raised to independent status in 1933, before which it depended on St. Katharina in Graun; since 2012 it has formed one pastoral unit with the churches of Graun, St. Valentin and Langtaufers. The patronal feast of St. Sebastian is still observed on 20 January, the date the 1864 church was completed.

The church stands in Reschen-Neudorf, the settlement rebuilt after the old village was flooded for the Reschensee reservoir; the old church site lies under the water. The main entrance sits sheltered under a projecting roof canopy on rectangular pillars, and the north facade is braced by three buttresses. The tall round-arched windows and the rose window above the door light the interior.

One tall round-arched window on the north side shows Saint Joseph with a winged angel child holding a carpenter's box; below it is a depiction of the old Saint Joseph chapel in the hamlet of Pitz, which was also submerged when the Reschensee reservoir was flooded.