St Anthony’s Chapel

The simple exterior of St Anthony’s Chapel is due to the climate conditions of the Saas Valley. Thanks to its exposed location, the chapel is subject to strong winds and therefore only has small, plain windows.

The tower with its slate roof is slightly less plain; it has an open belfry with a wooden buttress – similar to the 17th century church towers in the municipality of Goms.

The interior of the chapel is plain white. The main altar has a statue of St Anthony of Padua with book and Infant Jesus in his arms. The side altar on the right is dedicated to the Holy Family; on the left side, the rosary altar has a picture of the Virgin Mary with 15 emblems representing the Mysteries of the Rosary. The altars were created a few years after the chapel was built and are possibly the work of Johann Ritz (1668–1729), father of the celebrated altar builder Johann Jost Ritz.

St Anthony’s Chapel was restored between 1982–1984 under the supervision of the cantonal office for the preservation of cultural monuments: the chapel received once again a stone floor and the steeple its slate. Over the course of its history, the chapel was often in a state of repair and had to be renovated several times.

 Further down the path, you come across the Lourdes Chapel dating from 1619 and the oldest surviving sacred building in the Saas Valley. This tiny house of prayer was originally dedicated to the Holy Family. The dedication was changed to the Our Lady of Lourdes, probably during the 1920s.