Catholic Parish Church of St. Peter and Paul, Catholic parish church in Sarnen, Switzerland

The Catholic Parish Church of St. Peter and Paul is a baroque hall church built in 1739–1742 in the oldest, south-western part of Sarnen, its façade facing the Sarnersee. Two slanted towers flank the portal front, joined by a continuous cornice at the height of the tower clocks. Inside, three naves and three bays are covered by a barrel vault over the central nave and transverse barrels over the aisles, ending in a long choir with apse.

A church stood here before 1000; the Romanesque rebuild of the mid-12th century survives in the lower five storeys of the east tower. Regothicised and reconsecrated in 1459 to Peter, Paul and James, it was replaced from 1739: after Joseph von Brüel's death in 1738, Franz Singer took over, and the foundations proved too weak, so the parish built a double-tower facade across the old axis. Bishop Franz Karl Fugger consecrated it in 1742; the west tower was finished only in 1881.

The church is dedicated to Saints Peter, Paul and James, as it was at its 1459 reconsecration. A 1737 painting by Josef Remigi Budmiger, kept in the church, shows the earlier Gothic building with its steep saddle roof and the Romanesque tower beside the choir. Stucco work from 1740, probably by Joseph Rauch of the Wessobrunn school, covers the vaults.

The church functions as an active religious center and is open for both worship services and visits as a protected cultural site. Access may be limited during certain times, so checking beforehand is advisable.

The 1737 painting by Josef Remigi Budmiger in Kriens records the previous Gothic church in detail: a steep saddle roof on the nave, the 1621 choir extension on the north side and the Romanesque tower beside the south choir. The lower five storeys of the east tower still hold that Romanesque masonry.