Barbarakapelle, Kaprun

The Barbarakapelle stands at the south-western edge of Kaprun village, on the edge of the power-station settlement at about 785 metres above sea level. It occupies the corner where the Barbarastrasse meets the Falkenbachwandgasse. A short walk west brings the visitor to the main transformer yard of the Kaprun hydro-electric group. The chapel was built in 1953–54 as a gesture of reconciliation after the 1951 opening of the Limberg dam had been boycotted by church leaders. Archbishop Andreas Rohracher consecrated the building in 1955, dedicating it to Saint Barbara, patron of miners and tunnellers. The simple rectangular church, designed by Fidelius Schmid, shelters a marble altar and a striking 1955 painting by Erwin Exner showing Barbara hovering above four miners at work. Inside, the nave is spanned by a wooden ceiling and lit by tall rectangular windows on north and south walls. A round-arched screen separates the slightly raised choir, which ends in a five-sided apse. On the choir wall hangs Exner’s painted altarpiece; opposite, a small wooden statue of Barbara carries the artist’s signature. A wooden gallery at the west end holds fourteen painted Stations of the Cross, and beneath it a locked case preserves the roll of workers who died building the power plant.