Candlelight at an altitude of 3,100 metres

You will often find 124 or more candles lit in the “Bernard of Aosta” chapel on the Gornergrat ridge. Guests from all over the world light candles here and soak up the atmosphere of this quiet place in the mountains. 

As in most hamlets in the canton of Valais and at many local vantage points, there is a simple mountain chapel on the Gornergrat. That wasn’t always the case. After the opening of the 3100 Kulmhotel on the Gornergrat at the end of 1910, Sunday masses were read in the hotel’s dining room in the summer. However, the local bishop expressed the wish for a chapel and the building was completed in 1950. 

Easy to miss or who will find the chapel? 

“The house of prayer, built from natural stone blocks in 1950 and dedicated to St. Bernard, blends harmoniously into the stony mountain landscape as if it had always stood up there. Inside, we see a beautiful altar decorated with a mountain flower crown with pictures of three saints that are very popular in Valais: Bernard, Theodul and Mauritius,” says the book about the 3100 Kulmhotel Gornergrat.  

The chapel on the footpath between the hotel and the summit station blends in so well with the overall impression of the Gornergrat that it is easy to miss. If you take the lift from the summit station directly to the hotel, you might not even notice it.  

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Churches connected to the Gornergrat 

St. Peter’s English Church on the Riffelalp, the chapel “Brother Klaus” on the Riffelberg and the chapel “Bernard von Aosta” on the Gornergrat ridge – all three are part of the tradition and history of the Gornergrat Railway. Each and every one of them – be it with music, weddings or candlelight – attracts visitors every year, who enjoy a moment of peace and quiet here for their own thoughts.  

Gornergrat Bahn

125 years of fascination