Pfarrkirche Hl. Johannes Nepomuk (Doren)

The parish church of Doren stands on a hillside north of the main road in the Bregenzerwald village of Doren, part of the Bregenz district in Vorarlberg. It is dedicated to Saint John of Nepomuk and belongs to the Vorderwald-Kleinwalsertal deanery in the Diocese of Feldkirch. The building has been under official protection since its completion.

The present church was designed in 1823 by the Bregenz district building office and consecrated three years later. It became the parish church in 1853 after an earlier link to Sulzberg. The interior was restored in 1949, revealing ceiling paintings by Hans Sontheimer and late-19th-century stained glass. The high altar, pulpit and font all date from the 19th century and were created by sculptor Anton Rüscher to designs by Josef Anton Müller.

The church has a single nave with a broad interior and a slightly recessed choir ending in a half-round apse. A square tower rises above the choir, its octagonal upper section capped by a bulbous dome. The west front is marked by a triangular gable, a row of arches and a projecting porch. Inside, the organ loft rests on Tuscan columns, while the ceiling shows Sontheimer’s frescoes of local saints and biblical scenes. The high altar’s neuroman canopy shelters a heart-of-Jesus statue, and the pulpit’s balustrade is carved with the four Evangelists.