Built in the 8th c., the St Justus Church in the village of Flums is one of the most treasured art monuments in the Canton of St Gallen.
It was named after St Justus the Martyr, a nine-year old boy from Auxerre in France, who saved his parents from seizure by enemies of the faith, was beheaded as a martyr for Christ and subsequently proclaimed a saint. Around 1036, his head was destined to be transferred to the monastery of Pfäfers, but supernatural powers prevented this and it remained in Flums.
The Justus Head is on display in the Swiss National Museum in Zürich.
The oldest parts of the church walls are of Roman origin. Worth seeing also is the adjoining churchyard, first mentioned in documents of 1303, with its wrought-iron grave crucifixes from 17th -10th centuries.