Apollonia Chapel (Ahrem)

Apollonia Chapel, 1691

Lettering on the bars, partly badly weathered

Statue of Saint Apollonia

The under monument protection standing Apolloniakapelle in Ahrem , a district of Erftstadt in Rhein-Erft-Kreis ( North Rhine-Westphalia ), is a small built in the late 17th century chapel ways. It is located in the center of the village on Gennerstraße and Am Hermeshof street leading to Friesheim .

history

Building history

The chapel, also known as the Holy House, was originally built in half-timbered construction in the immediate vicinity of the Hermeshof and on its building site. Its owner, the Cologne mayor of Imstenrath, not only gave his approval as the lord of the Hermeshof, then still known as Pützhof, but also supported the building project with a donation. Details of this agreement were recorded in the inscription above the lintel of the chapel. In it it says: “With the approval and assistance of the Lord Mayor of Emstrath, the local community built this up. Anno 1691 May 12th ".

Another Latin inscription "IHS IN HONOREM DEI ET S. APOLLONIA" is on the beam above the window next to the entrance door. It says that the chapel was built in honor of God and Saint Apollonia.

Adoration of Saint Apollonia

The Lechenich Franciscans did their utmost to promote the veneration of St. Apollonia , whose protection and help was requested by the believers in the event of toothache . In 1671 the convent received a tooth of St. Apollonia as a relic , which has since been venerated in the monastery church. Since then it has become a custom that the pilgrims who go to the monastery church in Lechenich on February 9th, the feast day of St. Apollonia, stop to worship the saints in Ahrem and pray in the chapel. Inside the chapel there was a statue of the patron saint, a so-called "dressing figure". Her furnishings included several valuable dresses, from the selection of which she was decorated by the local women on festive days. Due to the secularization , the relic came to the parish church of St. Kilian in Lechenich when the monastery was abolished, where the tradition of the veneration of Apollonia was continued.

Today's chapel

The compartments of the chapel, which were later lined with bricks , and the also renewed side walls were painted white. In front of the east side of the building, a stone cross is a memorial to those who died in the First World War .

During a restoration in the 1980s, the text above the lintel was incorrectly changed. The phrase “the contribution of Herr von Imstenrath” became a “supplement”. The earlier text can be traced back to a surviving illustration in the home calendar of the Euskirchen district .

The chapel was renovated a few years ago by the citizens of Ahrem and the veneration of Mary , which also traditionally exists in Ahrem, was transferred to the Apollonia chapel . A picture of Mary now adorns the room, which was also equipped with a figure of Mary on a console at the side. The chapel, which was open on Sundays in May and October for a number of years, gave the residents of Ahrem the opportunity to pray and devotion, but it is currently closed.

The statue of St. Apollonia is no longer in the chapel. After being restored and redressed, she was given a permanent place over the pulpit in the Ahrem Church of St. John the Baptist .

literature

• Karl Stommel, The Franciscans in Lechenich . In: Monasteries and monasteries in the Erftkreis. Pulheim - Brauweiler 1988. ISBN 3-7927-1044-7
• Hanna Stommel, Apollonia Chapel . In Frank Bartsch, Dieter Hoffsümmer, Hanna Stommel: Monuments in Erftstadt. Erftstadt 1998–2000

Individual evidence

1. ^ Stommel, the Franciscans in Lechenich, page 266
2. ^ Lechenich parish archives St, Kilian parish archives Lechenich I. part, section 1, vol. 2
3. ↑ Home calendar of the Euskirchen district 1964, page 110

Coordinates: 50 ° 47 ′ 2.6 ″  N , 6 ° 45 ′ 48.4 ″  E