Kapelle Stofel (Damüls)

The Stofel Chapel stands on a striking viewpoint on the Alpe Oberdamüls in the Bregenzerwald municipality of Damüls, Vorarlberg. It is a small, simple chapel built on land granted to the Walser people as a hereditary lease in 1313. The chapel survives as the only remaining building from the time when the alpine pasture was partly inhabited year-round. Its age is uncertain, though a date of 1689 appears on a window lintel.

The chapel is valued as a quiet monument to rural piety in earlier centuries. It was placed under Denkmalschutz in 1995 because of its uniqueness and restored soon after. The building has a very shallow roof of large stone slabs and a floor laid with matching slabs. Inside, a painted image shows the Virgin Mary with the Christ Child above figures of Saints Nicholas, Martin and Anthony.

Visitors find a modest interior with plain stone walls and a single altar. The shallow stone roof and stone floor give the space a cool, quiet feel. From the chapel’s hilltop site, wide views stretch across the Damüls mountains and valleys. The surrounding alpine meadows remain largely unchanged since the Walser first settled the area.