Cappella di Tschaval

In a wood above Gressoney-La-Trinité stands the earliest precisely dated chapel in the municipality's records: Tschaval, built in 1624 by J. Peter Monterin. Dedicated once to Saints Peter and Nicholas and today to Saints Peter and Paul, it carries larch floors and the fragment of a polychrome altar in its quiet interior.

Why it matters

Built in 1624 by J. Peter Monterin, the Cappella di Tschaval is among the earliest precisely dated chapels in Gressoney-La-Trinité, preceding many of its frazione neighbours. For the traveller, that makes it the deepest root of the village's sacred geography — a building raised when the Walser community of the Lys valley was consolidating its hold on the high pastures. It also has an unusual second life in the parish church of the Santissima Trinità, where two of its statues stand today on the altar of Saint Joseph, replacing pieces stolen there in 1975.

What to notice

The chapel stands in woodland at Tschaval. Its larch floor and remains of an eighteenth-century polychrome altar accompany a dedication that changed from Saints Peter and Nicholas to Saints Peter and Paul; two statues from the chapel were moved to the parish church after a 1975 theft there.

Context and history

A foundation year of 1624 sets this chapel in the generation after the great Walser settlement phases of the Lys valley, decades before the present parish church of 1702 and before the chapels of Orsia (1652), Biel (1736) and Oagre (1776). The dedication changed over time from Saints Peter and Nicholas to Saints Peter and Paul.