Ortskapelle Mariä Erscheinung zu Lourdes, Frastanz

The Ortskapelle Mariä Erscheinung zu Lourdes stands in Gampelün, a hamlet within Frastanz in Vorarlberg’s Feldkirch district. The small chapel belongs to the Feldkirch deanery and is protected as an official listed monument. Its dedication recalls the 1858 apparitions at Lourdes in France. Built in 1901, the rectangular building has a three-sided apse beneath a pitched roof topped by a small bell tower. A pointed-arch door with the date carved above is sheltered by an open porch on two stone posts. Inside, flat ceilings meet delicate plaster cornices adorned with rosettes and cartouches at centre and corners. A gently pointed chancel arch frames a small Lourdes grotto at the east end. The grotto itself holds painted plaster statues of Saint Thérèse, Saint Anthony and the Good Shepherd from the twentieth century. Narrow, pointed windows throw light onto the plain white walls. The quiet village setting, surrounded by meadows and orchards, makes the chapel an unassuming yet protected place of devotion.