Lourdeskapelle Lauterach

The small Lourdes chapel stands in Lauterach’s Unterdorf, a quiet quarter reached by turning off the main road into the Kapellenstraße. Built around 1900 to replace an older wayside shrine, it rises only a few metres above the surrounding fields at 408 metres above sea level. The modest rectangular building faces south-east, its single aisle ending in a rounded apse that houses the altar. A low gable shelters the entrance on the north-west side, where a simple copper-covered door is set between plain pilasters. Inside, thirty pale pine pews face the focal point: a tall altar shaped like a grotto, its centrepiece a white statue of Our Lady of Lourdes. To the left, a kneeling figure of Bernadette Soubirous in white robes and blue sash keeps vigil, while on the right a small wooden Christ stands on a side table. The walls are lit by four large round-headed windows that throw clear light onto the flat barrel-vaulted ceiling. A low wrought-iron screen separates the nave from the sanctuary, marking the transition from the everyday to the sacred. Outside, the roof is covered with traditional clay tiles, but the tiny bell tower rising above the apse is clad in copper that has weathered to soft green. A distinctive cross, more weather-vane than cross, tops the turret and turns with the wind. The path from the street is paved with grey tiles that form a narrow aisle leading straight to the grotto altar, the darker tiles guiding the eye forward. In winter the chapel’s single bell rings each evening, calling villagers to quiet prayer before the quiet village settles again.