With outsized prayer beads cast in concrete in demi-relief, artists Clara Saner and Selma Weber have given texture to the structure of the enclosure walls, with shapes like fossils that break the intentional monotony of the concrete walls.

The prayer beads invite the observer to look beyond the walls — to the trees, the imposing mountains and the sky. The walls, so decorated, not only keep out noise but encourage the traveller to enjoy a moment of tranquillity, in contemplation, whether religious or otherwise spiritual.

Prayer beads as an aid to prayer are found in Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism and Islam. Judaism, on the other hand, uses phylacteries with small leather boxes containing scriptural messages from the Old Testament. All such means support a ritualised form of prayer.

Christianity is represented by the rosary (59 beads) on the southern wall; Judaism, with its phylactery, can be seen in the south-west corner of the enclosure. The Islamic bead, or tesbih (33 and 99 beads, respectively), is visible on the western wall facing the Reuss. The northern wall shows the mala (108 pearls) used in Hinduism, and the prayer rope (also with 108 pearls) used by Buddhists.

The presentations of the chaplets on the walls of the courtyard are completed by a panel on the southern wall quoting phrases important to the five world religions.