About Matrei in Osttirol

Visitors to the village of Matrei in East Tyrol will find themselves in an oasis of calm grassy fields surrounded by the majestic mountains of the Alps. Both the village and the local municipality are named Matrei and both are located in the Lienz District of the Austrian state of Tyrol. The Matrei municipality covers 277.8 square kilometers but the village of Matrei, with only 4,896 residents as of December 2008, is fairly small and is located 29km north of Lienz in the lsel Valley near the Tauern River. The village may be small but, as the social, economic and medical hub of the region, it is also important. People flock to Matrei from all over the world to experience its first class skiing and ski hire facilities and it is truly the jewel in East Tyrol's snowy crown.

Show sights

Apart from skiers and snowboarders, Matrei has also produced world famous sculptors like Virgil Rainer and Fritz Tiefenthaler. A visitor could spend an enchanting afternoon tracking down those of Rainer's works that are still on display in Matrei, including the reliefs "St Theresa of Liseaux" and "Death of St Joseph", which are hiding in the local church and nursing home chapel respectively. Open air concerts are held during the summer months and folk music is a popular pastime among both locals and visitors alike. And if it snows too heavily in the winter months and all the Matrei ski hire shops and ski runs are closed, you can get to know the town better by visiting the Medaria Museum, famous for its mineral and Tyrolean artifact exhibitions.

Show destinations

If you ever tire of utilizing Matrei's ski hire opportunities and skimming down the slopes, you could visit some of the many ancient churches in the area. No less than 41 shrines, churches and chapels are dotted around this municipality and no visit would be complete without seeing at least one or two of them. The most interesting sanctuaries that the region has to offer are the Church of St Nicholas Berg, built in the striking Romanesque style, and that of St Alban of Mainz. Built in the Late Baroque Period style and with a tower rising 86 meters into the air, St Alban's is the biggest church in Tyrol. But seeing all the churches in the world could not be more enjoyable than using the skiing, and ski hire, amenities that Matrei has to offer!