Pfarrkirche hl. Sebastian, Fontanella

The parish church of Fontanella stands in Kirchberg village within the municipality of Fontanella, in the Great Walsertal valley of Vorarlberg. It is a Roman Catholic church dedicated to Saint Sebastian and belongs to the Walgau-Walsertal deanery in the Diocese of Feldkirch. Both the church and its surrounding cemetery are protected as historic monuments. The building replaced an earlier chapel between 1664 and 1673, funded by Magister Ulrich Hartmann, parish priest in nearby Damüls. In 1674 it became the parish church, with Hartmann serving as its first pastor. The Baroque structure was enlarged in 1847 and restored several times, most recently in 1980 when a mortuary chapel was added. A notable interior renovation in 1871 introduced a flat ceiling with profiled stucco frames and rosettes by the stucco artist Studer. Inside, the nave features a continuous cornice, hollow moulding and the 1871 flat ceiling with three square stucco panels. The chancel arch is tall and narrow, with carved capitals, and the single-bay chancel is vaulted in cross-grains. The west gallery rests on two columns, and the west façade displays a 1923 painting of Moses and the Burning Bush by Anton Jehly. On the north side, a square tower rises to an octagonal belfry with four round-arched sound openings and a bulbous dome. A two-storey sacristy sits to the east, and a mortuary chapel is attached at the northeast corner.