Kosmus-Jenny-Ruhe

The Cosmus-Jenny-Ruhe is a small temple-like lookout pavilion standing on a gentle slope in Kennelbach, a village in Vorarlberg. It sits about 533 metres above sea level, roughly ten metres north of the Langener Straße and half a kilometre south of Kennelbach’s village centre. Bregenz, the regional capital, lies about three kilometres to the north-west, while the centre of Langen bei Bregenz is about six kilometres to the north-east. Nearby are two residential buildings, one forty metres to the west and another fifty metres to the east. The pavilion was funded by Fritz and Kosmus Schindler, textile-factory owners, as a memorial for their uncle Cosmus. In June 1906 they pledged 3,000 crowns to the Kennelbach association for common good, and a four-man committee chose the site. After planning by architect Otto Mallaun, the pavilion opened in April 1909. Like other buildings from that era of Vorarlberg’s textile barons, it was meant to display the family’s wealth and influence. The structure is an open colonnade scaled down from an ancient temple, with no enclosed rooms inside. A flat, low-pitched roof in Roman style shelters the square platform. Visitors step between the stone columns and look out over Kennelbach and the surrounding countryside. The site and building have belonged to the Kiene family since 2001.