Incorporated into the city of Bolzano Bozen in 1925, Gries was primarily known as a health resort, with many hotels, villas, gardens, parks and vineyards. The Piazza Gries - Grieserplatz is flanked on the right by the massive architectural complex of the Abbazia dei Benedettini di Muri-Gries (abbey).The monastery, first inhabited by Augustinian monks (1406), was pillaged by insurgent peasants in 1525 and was devastated during the Napoleonic wars.
Suppressed in 1807 by the Bavarian government, it was given to the Benedictine priests of Muri (Switzerland) by the Austrian emperor in 1845. The oldest part is represented by the castle built in the twelfth century by the counts Morit-Greifenstein, whose keep became now  the church’s bell tower. It houses the heaviest bell of South Tyrol (5026 kg). The Chiesa Abbaziale di Sant’Agostino (Church of Saint Augustine) was built in 1769-71 in Baroque style. The interior vaults of the nave, the cupola and also the seven altar-pieces are richly decorated with frescoes by the noted Tyrolean painter Martin Knoller.
Slightly north of Piazza Gries - Grieserplatz stands the Vecchia Parrocchiale di Gries -Old Gries Parish Church (open from April to October: Mon-Fri 10.30 a.m.-12 noon/ 2.30 p.m. to 4 p.m.).

The building in gothic style (beginning of the 15th century), houses two exceptional artistic treasures: the altar of Michael Pacher (1471-75) and the wooden Romanesque crucifix from the 13th century. The former is without doubt the absolute masterpiece of conserved Gothic wooden altars with wooden doors. The latter’s origins are thought to be from abroad, perhaps relating to the sculptures from Northern France and it is considered a work of remarkable artistic importance. The area where today the church stands was inhabited even in Roman times and was known as “Keller” or “Chellare” (cellar) and subsequently called “Gries” or rather sand or shingle. In the neighbourthood of the church there was a wine holding of the Bishop of Freising in Bavaria unti.