St​.​ Oswald Parish Church ​|​ Dalaas

Today’s parish church of St. Oswald dates back to 1507 and was likely built on the site of a chapel that had stood here as early as the 14th century. While the overall appearance still features Gothic elements, the Baroque style has predominated since the thorough restoration in 1792. The nave, which was extended in 1629, and the Gothic choir are housed under a single gabled roof. The tower was raised in 1793 and is topped by a Baroque onion dome crafted by the renowned Dalaas master carpenter Franz Anton Purtscher. The church’s location on the northern side of the valley points to the former settlement centers along the sun-drenched plots of Dalaas.

Stylistically, the church features works from both the Baroque period and the so-called Nazarene style (19th century). The artists from this era represented in Dalaas all hail from the Bertle family, which was based in Schruns.

The ceiling frescoes were created at the end of the 19th century by the Schruns painter Jakob Bertle: in the choir, the Sacrifice of Melchizedek (1897); at the front of the nave, the Nativity; and in the center, the Resurrection of Christ (1898). The rear painting, “The Miracle of Pentecost,” and the side frescoes—depicting, on the left, the Calling of Peter, the Raising of Jairus’s Daughter, and the Annunciation; and on the right, Jesus as a 12-year-old in the Temple, Christ Appearing to Mary Magdalene, and the Baptism of the Ethiopian eunuch by Paul, are by Hans Bertle. The stucco frame with leaf motifs dates from the late 18th century. The stained-glass windows in the choir depict Sts. Wendelin, Martin, and Isidor.

The high altar was crafted by the Montafon altar-maker Josef Vonier in 1750 and was painted by the brothers Johann Adam and Johannes Fuetscher . These same masters also worked in Wald. The altarpiece depicts the church’s patron saint, the Irish Saint Oswald, while the upper panel depicts God the Father and the Holy Spirit (by Franz Bertle, 1865). The figures date from around 1730 and were created by the Tyrolean sculptor Andreas Kölle; on the left is St. Wolfgang, and on the right is St. Florian. The tabernacle crucifix dates from the mid-18th century.

The left side altar is the Rosary Altar (a Rosary Brotherhood has existed in Dalaas since the mid-17th century) and dates from 1864. The altarpiece from 1899 by Jakob Bertle depicts the Madonna of the Rosary with the saints of the Dominican Order, St. Dominic and St. Catherine of Siena. The upper panel, also by Jakob Bertle (after the Swiss painter Deschwanden), depicts the patron saint of Wald, St. Anne with Mary. The figures of St. Erasmus and St. Wolfgang date from around 1630 to 1640, as does the high relief depicting St. Mary Magdalene, Dorothea, and Leonhard, and were created in the workshop of Vorarlberg’s most significant Baroque artist, the Feldkirch sculptor Erasmus Kern.

The right side altar has the same structure as the left one and was created in 1729 by Johann Georg Allgäuer of Altenstadt. The altarpiece from 1864 depicts the Holy Trinity and is by Franz Bertle, as is the upper panel, which depicts St. Joseph with Jesus. The figures—St. Nicholas on the left and St. John of Nepomuk of Prague, who has been widely venerated since the 18th century, on the right—were created around 1730.

The pulpit, dating from around 1770, is the work of a local artist; like the onion dome, it was crafted by Franz Anton Purtscher, a carpenter known far beyond the region. The painting of the four Evangelists was created in 1865 by Franz Bertle; the Bertle family of artists from Schruns thus found a rich field of activity in the parish church of St. Oswald in Dalaas.