Churches and chapels in Liechtenstein, from the cathedral to mountain chapels

Liechtenstein has no grand basilicas, and I think that’s part of its charm. What it does have is a 19th-century cathedral and a handful of chapels dotted around the villages, some with more than six centuries of recorded history. I wouldn’t plan a churches-only route, but it helps to know which are worth a detour and how to get inside.

A young cathedral in a very Catholic country

Vaduz Cathedral, dedicated to St Florin, is a neo-Gothic stone church designed in Vienna by Friedrich von Schmidt, raised from 1869 to 1873 and consecrated on 5 October 1873. According to the Historisches Lexikon it has been a cathedral since 2 December 1997, when the Archdiocese of Vaduz was created. Beside it is the princes’ crypt, which the Princely House says opens to the public only on 1 November.

The country is still mostly Catholic. In the 2020 census, the last to ask, 69.6% of residents said they were Catholic and 8.1% Protestant. You see it in the landscape, with a chapel in almost every hamlet.

Which is the oldest church in Liechtenstein?

The sources argue about this, so here are both versions. The Historisches Lexikon gives the title to St Peter’s in Schaan, built on the walls of a 4th-century Roman fort and with a 5th-century baptistery. The tourist board, on the other hand, calls St Mamertus chapel in Triesen the oldest in the country, and the council dates it probably to the 9th century, though its first written record is from 1415.

My view is that both are among the oldest, and I’d visit them with equal interest. To St Peter’s in Schaan I’d add St Peter’s in Mäls, in Balzers, from around 1300, which the tourist board also counts among the country’s oldest churches.

Mountain chapels with a view

The mountain chapels are my favourites. St Theodul, in Masescha, stands at 1,235 m, and the Lexikon counts it as the first church of the Walser, the settlers from the Valais who arrived around 1300, with a record from 1465. Malbun’s Peace Chapel, at 1,627 m, is more recent, built in 1950 and 1951 by Johannes Hugentobler in thanks for Liechtenstein being spared the Second World War.

Down in the valley, the Dux chapel above Schaan is the country’s great pilgrimage chapel. It’s baroque, from around 1716, and in 1940 Prince Franz Josef II consecrated the country to the Virgin there. John Paul II visited on 8 August 1985.

The little ones hardly anyone sees

In the old quarter of Balzers, Mäls, there are two chapels a stroll apart. St Peter’s keeps a Gothic winged altarpiece from about 1516, and Mariahilf, baroque with an onion dome, has an organ from 1824 and a copy of Cranach’s Madonna from Innsbruck. In Planken, St Joseph’s chapel dates from 1767 and 1768 and was given three altars by Prince Franz I in 1929.

Bendern’s hill and the village parish churches

In the Unterland, the Church of the Assumption in Bendern stands on a hill with a long past. According to the Historisches Lexikon there are remains there from the Bronze Age and a manor, a curtis, of the 6th and 7th centuries, and on 16 March 1699 the oath of allegiance to the Prince was sworn on that very spot, which the tourist board treats as the birth of today’s Liechtenstein. The parsonage and the parish barn share the hill. In Hinterschellenberg stands St George’s chapel from around 1700, and in Eschen the old priest’s and chaplain’s houses beside St Martin’s are, in the tourist board’s words, the emblem of the municipality.

In Schaan, the council’s heritage walk gives St Laurentius two panels, one for the old parish church by the ancient Alemannic core of Specki and one for the present church. Vaduz also has the little St Joseph’s chapel in Ebenholz, consecrated in 1931.

Getting inside

This is what frustrates travellers most. Hardly any chapel publishes opening hours in the official sources I’ve read. The useful exception is Triesen, whose council website says St Mamertus and the Marienkapelle open for anyone who asks in advance. For the rest, I’d go in daylight, on a weekday and without banking on a set time, and I’d always look at the outside, which is reward enough for most of them. None charges admission in the sources I’ve checked.