1131 – Chapel from Turtig/Raron, Valais, 18th Century

The village of Turtig lies across from Raron on the old imperial highway through the Valais. The linear hamlet has everything that a Valaisan village should: dwellings with friezes and door arches framed in stone, hay sheds and granaries, stalls and barns, even a small wash house where slaughtering and distilling were also done. All the materials needed for a largely self-sufficient way of life were available, whilst some buildings indicate that transit traffic to the passes also buttered some bread here. The religious sphere also left some architectural traces. A chapel is documented in 1670 on the occasion of the marriage of an illustrious pair: the clerk of courts Johannes Kalbermatter and Juliana Allet from Leuk. The present sacral building was erected in 1700–1750 and is typical of the heyday of baroque chapel construction in the Valais.

In 1943 the vault collapsed. In 1951 a new chapel 400 metres (1312 feet) to the northeast was consecrated and still fulfi ls its function. What became of the old abandoned chapel? Deteriorated sacral buildings or those replaced by new construction can be deconsecrated and then serve other uses. Such re-used chapels occasionally appear in the Valais, where they serve as a cheese cellar (Binn valley), as a vacation chalet on the alp (Lötschen valley), as a dwelling in the village (Les Haudères), as a post offi ce (Chandolin) or as a hairdresser’s salon (Val de Bagnes). Most often former chapels are used as storehouses. In Turtig all sorts of equipment and building material cluttered the derelict nave. For a while it was a goat stall.