Kapelle Maria Schnee, Kehlegg

The Filialkirche Maria im Schnee stands in the hamlet of Kehlegg, part of Dornbirn in Vorarlberg. It is a modern Roman Catholic chapel set on a slight rise in the village centre, about three kilometres from Dornbirn town. The church, built in 1973, is protected as a listed building and designed to relate closely to the surrounding mountains. The chapel is worth visiting for its recent history and the objects it houses. The present building replaced an earlier one destroyed by fire in 1732, and a new chapel was completed in 1837. The current church was begun in 1970 under Bishop Bruno Wechner and designed by architect Hans Burtscher, opening in 1973. Inside are two notable works of art: a late Gothic Madonna from about 1470 and a crucifix dated around 1430. Visitors find a bright rectangular space with a copper-covered pitched roof and large glazed gables. The interior has a ceiling of varnished fir slats and exposed concrete walls. The altar area is open, with a simple concrete altar and a historic Madonna on the right and a Gothic crucifix on the left. Plain wooden benches are arranged around the altar, and plain wooden cross stations line the walls. The detached bell tower, about six metres high, holds the bells moved here in 1973.