Astrid Chapel

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Overview of the memorial
1) Vierwaldstättersee
2) Luzernerstrasse
3) Rain drainage opening (1)
4) Pear tree (2)
5) Memorial cross (3) 		6) reed belt
7) visitor area (3)
8) new location chapel (4)
9) old location chapel (1)
(1) until 1960
(2) until 1992
(3) since 1936
(4) since 1960
Astrid Chapel in August 2012

The Astrid Chapel is a memorial chapel on Lake Lucerne in the canton of Schwyz , which was built in honor of Astrid of Sweden , Queen of the Belgians , who was killed in a car accident in 1935 . The memorial, inaugurated in 1936 and redesigned in 1960, includes a meadow with a memorial cross next to the chapel and is located at the southern entrance to the village of Küssnacht in the municipality of the same name between Luzernerstrasse and the lake shore.

Historical background

Astrid of Sweden in December 1926

On December 14, 1898, Philippe Graf von Flanders , father of the later King Albert I of Belgium, acquired the Villa Haslihorn in the Horw district of St. Niklausen near Lucerne . The property served as the summer residence of the Belgian royal family for the decades that followed . After Albert died in a climbing accident, his son Leopold III took over . on February 23, 1934 the rule. As part of the succession regulation, the property in Switzerland also passed in part into his ownership. In February 1938, as a result of the accident, the residence was sold to a merchant from Basel and a little later demolished to make room for a new building.

Leopold III. had been married to Astrid of Sweden since November 4, 1926 and had three children with her, including the later heir to the throne Baudouin and Albert, born in 1930 and 1934 . In August 1935 the royal couple was traditionally in central Switzerland to relax.

The accident

Packard 120-C Convertible Coupé, similar model
Fragment of the windshield, Küssnacht local history museum

On August 29, 1935 at around 9:15 a.m., King Leopold, Queen Astrid and chauffeur Pierre Devuyst and an escort vehicle drove not far from Lake Lucerne on the cantonal road from Lucerne in the direction of Küssnacht. Contrary to custom, the king drove the vehicle - a Packard 120 Convertible Coupé - himself. According to the journeyman plumber Friedrich Krebser, who was a few hundred meters from Küssnacht at the Langweid property on the roadside, Queen Astrid held a car card in her hand and pointed over it to Mount Rigi on the opposite side of the lake. Shortly afterwards, King Leopold drove with his right-hand wheels and a speed of 50 km / h over a 20 centimeter high boundary wall, which was interrupted at this point along a short section. After 30 meters, the car changed its direction of travel to the right, benefiting from the steeply sloping embankment, and the passenger side hit a pear tree on the other side of the wall. Queen Astrid fell out of the carriage and lay a few meters below the tree in the meadow. The damaged vehicle drove further down the embankment, hit a second tree and came to a halt in the reed belt in about 75 centimeters of water.

Funeral ceremony in Brussels in September 1935

A few minutes later, the alarmed police from Küssnacht, the two doctors Armin Jucker and Robert Steinegger as well as the pastor's helper Severin Pfister, surrounded by onlookers, arrived at the scene of the accident. Although King Leopold took care of his dying wife for several minutes shortly after the accident, the doctors present could only determine the death of Queen Astrid, which according to the death certificate occurred at 9:45 a.m. When she hit the trunk, she suffered a fractured skull with severe external head injuries, especially on the right side of her face. According to the medical bulletin, King Leopold suffered from abrasions, concussions, cuts and bruises on his hand and lungs. The driver in the back seat was only slightly injured in the leg. After Pfister's pastor had given absolution and performed the sacrament of the anointing of the sick , the queen's body was first brought to Küssnacht, later back to Haslihorn, and transferred to Brussels on the same evening by train . On September 3rd, Queen Astrid was buried in the royal crypt of the Laeken Liebfrauenkirche .

The press soon found out about the event. Willy Rogg, a 25-year-old dentistry student, was one of the first to be there with his camera and took a total of six photos. One of them shows the queen coffin in the meadow in the presence of the above-mentioned people. Rogg left the photos to the Associated Press and took them in a taxi to what was then the Dübendorf airport near Zurich. From there they were flown to London that night on a Douglas DC-2 aircraft operated by Swissair , which the Associated Press had rented for 5,000 Swiss francs. The transport went down in history as one of the first Swissair night flights.

On the evening of the day of the accident, the accident vehicle was towed into the Küssnacht sea bay with the help of a Nauen and transported from there to a garage . The technical examination on the following day by an expert from the cantonal motor vehicle inspection showed that the brakes and controls of the vehicle , which was only registered in 1935, weighed 1,600 kilograms and had eight cylinders, worked perfectly. An inspection on September 9, 1935 in the presence of the director of the royal garages in Brussels came to the same conclusion. In addition, the official police report did not contain any indications of poor road conditions or adverse weather conditions. In mid-September, on the instructions of the king, the car was sunk in Lake Lucerne at a deep spot south of Meggenhorn .

Much speculation has grown up about the exact circumstances of the accident. It is unclear whether King Leopold was distracted by conversations or gestures shortly before the accident and why he did not brake the car, but rather accelerated it according to descriptions. In addition, Queen Astrid opened the vehicle door immediately before the impact. Notwithstanding the fact that the time of the accident and the date on the death certificate differ by half an hour, the historical police, eyewitness and press reports contradict each other when answering the question of whether Queen Astrid died immediately in the accident or was unconscious for a few minutes. In other speculations there was talk of a fourth pregnancy.

Planning and construction of the memorial

Interior and altar in April 2009
Relief in April 2009
Madonna and Child in April 2009

Shortly after the accident, the Swiss government was asked by private individuals and daily newspapers to acquire the property in the area of ​​the accident site in order to subsequently transfer it to the Belgian royal family. In a letter to the Swiss Embassy in Brussels on May 29, 1936, the Federal Council considers it "an obligation of piety and friendship [...] to leave the Belgian sovereign the place of death of his wife for all time".

The first drafts for the design of the memorial led to difficult discussions between the Schwyz government and the royal family. On the one hand, the king wanted to keep the site in its original state, on the other hand, the increasing traffic and the large number of visitors meant a serious safety problem. In the end, both sides agreed on a compromise, according to which the planned pavement above the pear tree was reduced to a width of 1.05 meters and the tree itself was enclosed in an iron grating for protection. A memorial cross made of Swedish granite with the inscription “  La croix du Roi  ” (German: “The King's Cross”) marks the spot where Queen Astrid died of her injuries. Visitor stairs were built on both sides between the street and the bank.

Meanwhile, the Belgian Veterans' Association from the First World War ( Œuvre Nationale des Invalides de Guerre, ONIG ) collected donations to build a memorial chapel. By the end of 1935 an amount of around 50,000 Belgian francs was collected. The Belgian architect Paul Rome was commissioned to plan the construction of the chapel. In March 1936, the Schwyz authorities issued the final building permit with some conditions and awarded the contract to the Küssnacht company Gambaro.

Only Belgian materials were used for the construction, which were transported free of charge from France and Switzerland. In addition, all the artists responsible for decorating the chapel came from Belgium. Next to the entrance was a stone relief with the inscription "  L'union fait la force  " (German: "Unity makes you strong"). Another memorial plaque depicts the accident in French, Flemish and German. Above the entrance there is a reddish statue of a Madonna and Child in a niche . Inside the chapel there are three glass paintings on each side , of which the middle one shows a portrait of the queen - behind the altar also accompanied by her husband. A royal crown, a rose crown and a crown of thorns are symbolically suspended above the altar. The bell bears the Latin inscription “ Plango Astridam, Belgarum Reginam quae hic perit 1935 aetate 29 ” (German: “I beweine Astrid, the queen of the Belgians, who died here at the age of 29”).

On June 28, 1936, the official inauguration ceremony took place with numerous guests from home and abroad. After the welcoming ceremony on the festively decorated Küssnachter Seeplatz, the individual groups moved to the newly built chapel, while the military music corps ( Harmonie Royale des Invalides Belges ) played the funeral march of Chopin. Monsignor Colle, clergyman of the Belgian court, consecrated the church in the presence of the representative of the bishop of Chur and the pastor of Küssnacht . King Leopold, who did not take part in the celebrations, had a wreath laid.

Relocation of the chapel

Astrid Chapel with memorial cross and old tree stump in April 2009

In the months that followed, traffic around the memorial increased steadily. At times, the once important thoroughfare from Lucerne towards Gotthard was almost blocked by parked cars. As a countermeasure, the royal property management asked the Federal Political Department for a speed limit of 20 km / h for all motor vehicles. After this request was complied with by the Schwyz government council in January 1937, resistance to the decision arose. It was only when the contract was awarded for a project to build a sidewalk that the speed limit was lifted in April 1939 and the complaints pending became irrelevant.

In 1952, at the request of the Küssnacht District Council, the Schwyz government put the traffic problem back on the agenda. There were several options for defusing the precarious situation. The move of the chapel to the other side of the street, favored by the local authorities, was rejected by the Belgian consulate in Lucerne, with reference to the special importance of the place. A recommendation by the Swiss Federal Superstructure Inspectorate in Bern called for the construction of a new road for through traffic below the memorial, which became common parlance as the "lake-side bypass". This proposed solution in turn led to the displeasure of some citizens, who then founded an initiative committee and were able to unite popular opinion behind their concerns.

Only on June 3, 1957, a further discussion with the new Belgian ambassador PA Forthomme brought the breakthrough: In a letter, the ambassador stated that the Donation Royale as the owner no longer had any fundamental objections to moving the chapel. In 1959, the government council decided to move the chapel to the other side of the street on the lakeshore, to widen Luzernerstrasse to nine meters, to connect the memorial with the village of Küssnacht via a sidewalk and to create parking spaces, a toilet facility and a pedestrian underpass.

Relocating the 150-ton chapel was an ambitious project that was also attended by architect Paul Rome. The structure was underpinned with a concrete beam grating , then rotated 150 degrees, lowered by two and a half meters and moved more than 30 meters in the direction of Küssnacht. On April 1, 1960, the road was crossed to the prepared new foundation. At the end of 1960, most of the renovation work was completed.

Younger story

Memorial cross and young pear tree in August 2012

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Queen Astrid's death, the Belgian royal family was invited to a memorial service on August 29, 1985. King Baudouin , Queen Fabiola , heir to the throne Prince Albert , his wife Paola and the Grand Duchess Joséphine Charlotte of Luxembourg arrived at Emmen airfield at 11:15 a.m. with a military aircraft . The 82-year-old former chauffeur Pierre Devuyst was also among the guests of honor. The royal visit ended with a reception in the banquet hall of the Schloss-Hotel Swiss-Chalet in Merlischachen , which was named Astrid-Hall in memory of the late Queen . Since the visit, the district council of Küssnacht has organized a public memorial service every year on the day of death.

On the evening of August 21, 1992, more than 2000 fruit trees were uprooted or broken in a hailstorm accompanied by a hailstorm. Below that was the pear tree that the royal car had crashed into. The remains of the tree can be viewed in the Küssnacht local history museum. A short stalk remained at the scene of the accident .

On August 29, 2010, King Albert II visited the memorial and took part in a mass for his mother, who died 75 years ago. Before the visit, the old stump was removed and a young pear tree was planted.

On August 29, 2015, King Philippe thought of his dead grandmother Astrid during a private visit in Küssnacht. The 55-year-old monarch arrived at the "Queen Astrid Memorial" in Küssnacht SZ around 12 noon. His 12-year-old son Prince Gabriel was also there. It was their first visit to the accident site for both of them. Philippe has been King of the Belgians since July 21, 2013. As the eldest son, he succeeded his father Albert II, who abdicated at the age of 79.

literature

Web links

Commons : Astrid-Kapelle  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See Kälin 2001, p. 37.
  2. ↑ See Kälin 2001, p. 9.
  3. ↑ Erich Aschwanden: Death of a Queen of Hearts In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung of August 24, 2015
  4. ↑ a b See Kälin 2001, p. 11.
  5. ↑ See Kälin 2001, p. 13.
  6. ↑ a b See Kälin 2001, p. 10.
  7. ^ Death certificate dated August 29, 1935, Heimatmuseum Küssnacht.
  8. ↑ See Koninckx 2005, p. 150
  9. ^ Medical bulletin of September 7, 1935 signed by Robert Steinegger, Heimatmuseum Küssnacht.
  10. ↑ a b See Kälin 2001, p. 14.
  11. ↑ See Kälin 2001, p. 15.
  12. ↑ See Kälin 2001, p. 16.
  13. ↑ See Kälin 2001, p. 28.
  14. ^ Report on the traffic accident of August 30, 1935, written by the Küssnacht a. R., Küssnacht Local History Museum.
  15. ↑ a b See Kälin 2001, p. 45.
  16. ↑ a b cf. Kälin 2001, p. 47.
  17. ↑ See Kälin 2001, p. 54.
  18. ↑ a b See Kälin 2001, p. 58.
  19. ↑ See Kälin 2001, p. 60.
  20. ^ The most royal: Astrid Chapel, 1960 Küssnacht am Rigi. Iten AG, accessed on September 11, 2014 .
  21. ↑ See Kälin 2001, p. 61.
  22. ^ Photograph of the area after the storm, Küssnacht local history museum.
  23. ↑ Belgian King on a short visit to Küssnacht . In: NZZ Online , August 29, 2010
  24. ↑ news.ch - Belgium's King Philippe commemorates his grandmother who had an accident - Royals, People, Boulevard

Coordinates: 47 ° 4 '43.77 "  N , 8 ° 25' 50.02"  E ; CH1903:  675 330  /  two hundred and fourteen thousand six hundred seventy-seven