St. Rupert's Catholic Church in Ramsau Kulm

The Kulmkirche is one of the oldest and most important churches of early Christianity in the  Enns Valley. It is dedicated to St. Rupert – the abbot and first bishop of Salzburg who founded the Benedictine monastery St. Peter and the convent at Nonnberg. St. Rupert died around 715 A.D. in Salzburg and is buried inside Salzburg Cathedral.  

The patronage of the church refers to a close relationship between Ramsau and Salzburg.  Most likely based on the fact that the 1^st church in Ramsau, built around the 13^th Century,  was a succursal church of Haus im Ennstal. There were close ties between the parish of Haus and the archbishopric of Salzburg.  

The original church building can be equated to today's nave with a Romanesque core. The Gothic choir was added to it on the east side in 1444. At the beginning of the 16^th Century, the people of Ramsau joined the Lutheran doctrine, to which they officially adhered after the tolerance patent of Joseph II in 1781.  

In 1747 an independent vicarage was established at the Kulmkirche, and it became an independent parish in 1859. The Catholic parish of Ramsau-Kulm is one of the few Catholic diaspora parishes in Austria, and it is still pastorally cared for by Schladming. The parish currently counts approx. 420 members compared to approx. 2.200 Protestants.