It seems that a 1328 document already testified to the existence of a sacred building dedicated to Saint Oswald in Sauris di Sotto. His worship was probably brought by the founders of the community, who came from Austria. In the 1600s and 1700s, the sanctuary was one of the best known and most prestigious places of worship of the Venetian Republic. It was the goal of hundreds of pilgrims coming from Friuli, Cadore, the cities of the Veneto, and, in particular, Venice. To house them, the building was expanded and altered many times over the course of the centuries, as the recent restoration has also revealed. On the outside, the structure is characterized by the bell tower with its typical onion-shaped spire, the roof of larch shingles, the foundation made of local tuff ashlars, also used to mark the corners of the masonry, and the lovely rose window on the façade. The restoration brought to light part of the fresco decoration of the masonry, windows, and lunettes of the apse, as well as a 1785 sundial and numerous writings left by the pilgrims between halfway through the 1600s and the early decades of the 1700s. In the presbytery, the splendid Flügelaltar (winged altar) by Michael Parth from Bruneck (1524) reigns. At the end of the right aisle, there is another altar dedicated to Saint Oswald, the work of Gian Francesco Comuzzo from Gemona (1658). Halfway down the left aisle, there is the altar of Our Lady of the Girdle (17th century; 18th century altarpiece). The ceiling has frescoes, in a folk style, of the death of Saint Oswald and the Assumption of the Madonna. Resting on two pillars, the processional banners with silver patches of Saint Oswald and Our Lady of the Girdle (Venetian production, 18th century) should also be noted.
Photography by Ulderica Da Pozzo
