The Garnet Chapel, also known as the Capella Granata (), is a Catholic chapel situated at the Penken saddle (German: the Penkenjoch) near the

Penken The Penken is a mountain area in the Ziller Valley located in the Austrian Tyrol (state), Tyrol. The Penken can be reached by modern cable car from the village of Mayrhofen. References

Mountain ranges of Tyrol (federal state) Tux Alps {{ ...

. It is northeast of an artificial lake and forms part of the community of

Finkenberg Finkenberg is a municipality in the Schwaz district in the Austrian state of Tyrol. Geography Finkenberg lies about 3 km southwest of Mayrhofen Mayrhofen is a town in the Zillertal (Ziller river valley) in the Austrian state of Tirol, Austria, Ty ...

in the

Zillertal The Ziller Valley () is a valley in Tyrol (state), Tyrol, Austria that is drained by the Ziller River. It is the widest valley south of the Inn (river), Inn Valley () and lends its name to the Zillertal Alps, the strongly Glacier, glaciated sectio ...

valley. The valley in the district of

Schwaz Schwaz () is a city in the Austrian state of Tyrol. It is the administrative center of the Schwaz district. Schwaz is located in the lower Inn valley. Location Schwaz lies in the middle of the Lower Inn Valley at the foot of the Kellerjoch ...

is in the

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

() of

Tyrol Tyrol ( ; historically the Tyrole; ; ) is a historical region in the Alps of Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary, f ...

. The chapel belongs to the parish of Finkenberg and by extension to the Deanery of Fuegen-Jenbach and thus to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Innsbruck. The chapel is dedicated to Engelbert Kolland, a

friar A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders in the Catholic Church. There are also friars outside of the Catholic Church, such as within the Anglican Communion. The term, first used in the 12th or 13th century, distinguishes the mendi ...

of the

Franciscan Order The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...

( OFM), who was beatified on 10 October 1926. Father Kolland was born in Ramsau, a small village in the Zillertal. Kolland will be

canonised Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christian communion declaring a person worthy of public veneration and entering their name in the canon catalogue of sai ...

by Pope Francis on October 20, 2024, among the 14 blesseds.

Location

The chapel is situated at approximately 2087

masl The Major Arena Soccer League (MASL) is a professional indoor soccer league in North America. The MASL features teams playing coast-to-coast in the United States and Mexico. The league is the highest level of arena soccer in North America. The le ...

, about 40 metres northeast of the artificial Penken lake (German: ''Speicherteich Penken''). The linear distance between chapel and village centre of Finkenberg amounts to approx 2,000 metres and about four kilometres to

Mayrhofen Mayrhofen is a town in the Zillertal (Ziller river valley) in the Austrian state of Tirol, Austria, Tyrol. It is located approximately an hour from the Tyrolean capital city of Innsbruck. Population Tourism The town offers a variety of summer an ...

, a town in the east, whereas it is about 6.5 kilometres to ''Ramsau in the Zillertal'', a village in the northeast.

History

In the years 2011 and 2012 plans to build the chapel were established, and on 10 July 2012 negotiations on how to realize the construction were held. This day was the exact date of death of the

beatified Beatification (from Latin , "blessed" and , "to make") is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their name. ''Beati'' is the ...

Engelbert Kolland. On 17 June 2013 construction work started. After it was finished, various clerics of the Catholic Church then inaugurated the religious building on 22 September 2013, the very day that the beatified Engelbert Kolland had been

baptized Baptism (from ) is a Christian sacrament of initiation almost invariably with the use of water. It may be performed by sprinkling or pouring water on the head, or by immersing in water either partially or completely, traditionally three ...

.''Im Land des Herrn'' (engl. ''In the land of the Lord''), No. 4/2020, p. 24.See also: Information board on site.Granatkapelle
Website: zillertal.at (in German)

Building

The chapel was constructed in the name of the Brindlinger family and planned by

Mario Botta Mario Botta is a Swiss architect born in Mendrisio, Ticino on 1 April 1943. At age fifteen, Botta dropped out of secondary school and apprenticed with the architectural firm of Carloni and Camenisch in Lugano. After three years, he went to the Ar ...

, a Swiss

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

. In earlier times this family had earned a living by mining for

garnet Garnets () are a group of silicate minerals that have been used since the Bronze Age as gemstones and abrasives. Garnet minerals, while sharing similar physical and crystallographic properties, exhibit a wide range of chemical compositions, de ...

s. Therefore, obviously the idea occurred to build this chapel in the form of a garnet. The religious building is a free-standing, two-storey wood

construction Construction are processes involved in delivering buildings, infrastructure, industrial facilities, and associated activities through to the end of their life. It typically starts with planning, financing, and design that continues until the a ...

in the form of a garnet that is open onto all sides. It is situated on a prominent rock and disposes of twelve identical

rhomboid Traditionally, in two-dimensional geometry, a rhomboid is a parallelogram in which adjacent sides are of unequal lengths and angles are non-right angled. The terms "rhomboid" and "parallelogram" are often erroneously conflated with each oth ...

surfaces (

rhombic dodecahedron In geometry, the rhombic dodecahedron is a Polyhedron#Convex_polyhedra, convex polyhedron with 12 congruence (geometry), congruent rhombus, rhombic face (geometry), faces. It has 24 edge (geometry), edges, and 14 vertex (geometry), vertices of 2 ...

Weathering steel Weathering steel, often referred to by the genericised trademark COR-TEN steel and sometimes written without the hyphen as corten steel, is a group of steel alloys that form a stable external layer of rust that eliminates the need for painting ...

is used on the outside to shield the wooden construction. The entrance as well as the

vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government of a parish in England, Wales and some English colony, English colonies. At their height, the vestries were the only form of local government in many places and spen ...

and information on the life of Engelbert Kolland can be found on the

ground floor A storey (Commonwealth English) or story (American English), is any level part of a building with a floor that could be used by people (for living, work, storage, recreation, etc.). Plurals for the word are ''storeys'' (UK, CAN) and ''storie ...

. The chapel itself is located on the first floor. Its interior is lined with mainly regional larch wood. The glass dome produces interesting light effects on the ceiling. The

altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religion, religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, Church (building), churches, and other places of worship. They are use ...

made of walnut wood and a portrait of the beatified Engelbert Kolland were created by Markus Thurner, born in 1970 in Maurach am Achensee (by the

Achen Lake Lake Achen () is a lake in Austria, north of Jenbach in Tyrol. Lake Achen is also called "Fjord of the Alps" and "Tyrolean Sea". The largest lake within the federal state, its maximum depth is . Together with the Achen Valley, it parts ...

). The portrait is a wooden mosaique which consists of five different regional types of wood from maple, cherry, apple and pear trees as well as walnut.''Im Land des Herrn'', Nr. 4/2020, p. 27.

Hiking route

The chapel can be reached on foot from the top station of the Finkenberg gondola lift, the Finkenberger Almbahnen, in about 10 minutes.

Literature

* Josef Brindlinger, Petrus Schüler OFM: ''…und manchmal stellt es sich sogar heraus, dass es ein Schatz ist'', in: ''Im Land des Herrn'', Franziskanische Zeitschrift für das Heilige Land, 74. Jahrgang, Heft 4, 2020, S. 23 ff. * Gottfried Egger: ''Zwischen Glocke und Minarett: Das Leben des Engelbert Kolland'', Salzburg 2010, Verlag Anton Pustet.

References

{{Authority control Buildings and structures in Tyrol (federal state) Roman Catholic chapels in Austria