Mountain Cross Chapel

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The Bergkreuzkapelle is one of St. Anna chapel in Walchental in the cadastral community of Sonnberg near Öblarn in Styria at 1350 meters above sea level. The wooden chapel in the Walchen is located nearby, namely in the valley floor at approx. 1000 m above sea level . It contains a larger than life carved crucifix from the 3rd quarter of the 17th century.

Access

The deposit number 275 of the cadastral community 67212 Sonnberg includes, among other things, the property 1155, which consists of the partial areas of the Alps, forests and roads. The chapel has existed on this piece of forest for centuries and is owned by the general public. (Extraordinary servitude). Access to the chapel is generally regulated by the Forest Act and is possible for everyone at any time of the day and year.

history

Originally the chapel was built at the beginning of the 18th century as part of the facilities of Stampfer's mining (copper and silver production) (according to the dendrochronology of the roof structure in 1716). The cult site may have existed for a long time, which is supported by two circumstances:

  • The chapel is St. Consecrated to Anna. In the baroque period, the heyday of the mine by Johann Adam Stampfer , a mine chapel of St. Barbara was consecrated. Anna was rather the preferred mining saint in the Middle Ages.
  • The chapel was not on the Catholic inventory. From this one can deduce that the building was operated as a non-Catholic chapel after the Reformation. The miners in the region tended to be Lutheran and thus outside the Catholic official church. In the immediate vicinity there is also a larger than life figure of Christ "Walchenherrgott", which is dated 1644 and is also not found in the Catholic church inventory. At that time in the 1600s there was a Lutheran theology school in Öblarn. A precursor to the Bergkreuz chapel would fit this religious and historical environment. In 1824 the chapel was clearly non-ecclesiastical, as it has been since then.

Written evidence of its use as a Catholic chapel has existed since 1874. In that year a votive picture was donated to express gratitude for accident-free forest work.

At a ceremony on September 27, 1912, the wooden extension was opened as a replacement for a previous construction. Since that day, a visitor book has been available that offers pilgrims and hikers the opportunity to make entries. The existing books consistently document a century of popular piety and tourism.

The mine in the Walchen has been in operation at least since the Middle Ages, whereby the higher regions were dismantled first and the lower levels of the elaborate mine building were only built in the early modern period and then in the baroque period. The old paths recognizable in the area show that the path connections lead from the high-altitude mines to that settlement-geographical junction where today only the Bergkreuz chapel stands. The reason for this is probably that springs arise on this slope and, compared to the upper mines, there is an easily passable slope. In addition, from this junction at the source (180 m away from the chapel), an old path that is heavily cut into the terrain and running horizontally leads towards the Ennstal. This is likely to be the caravan path (= mule track, Samersteig) that opened up the mine at the height of the mountain shoulders. Today's path in the Walchenschlucht was not passable. The slope around the chapel could therefore have been the preparation point for caravans (= Samer-Pass). As Georgius Agricola depicts, donkeys, mules and dogs were common as pack animals. Sources were certainly important for caravan arming.

Medicinal water

The water sources of this mountain area have been visited for healing purposes for centuries. The water at the Bergkreuz chapel is said to be particularly effective. The chapel arose from the cult around this healing water: The earliest preserved text passage is the house book of the pounder , in which she writes: “Anno 1690, June 1st, I went to the spa in the Walchen…” Today similar healing water is being produced from the Thaddäusstollen just 200 m away and sold under the market name AquaMedica. In addition, the Heiligenbründl at Altirdning rises from the same mountain, which is said to have a special eye-healing effect.

Legend

According to legend, it was as Votivwidmung a rescued from mountain emergencies miners donated. A construction detail speaks in favor of a rededication preserved in the legend: in the stone outer wall there are two openings that were neither common for a residential building nor for a chapel. It is very likely that the two openings were used for water drainage, because the slope is full of springs. The conversion could refer to the fact that a well house has been converted into a chapel.

use

Even after the mining activities ended, it was firmly integrated into the popular religious annual group as the Anna Chapel. Every year there is a pilgrimage on Anna's day , July 26th, with mountain mass. Usually about 200 pilgrims come from Öblarn, Niederöblarn, but also over the mountains from Irdning, Donnersbach and Donnersbachwald and also from the Sölk communities. The chapel is a popular destination for hikers and pilgrims looking for relaxation all year round.

swell

  • Pit map from Dürmer, 1790: The chapel is shown and labeled as such. Although the map shows the underground mine building, the surface including the buildings is also shown meticulously.
  • Franziszeischer Cadastre 1824: The chapel and two outbuildings are shown exactly in a garden plot.
  • Protocols to the Franziszeischen Cadastre , Landesarchiv Graz : Ownership registers since 1824, in that year Ritter von Friedau was the owner.
  • Military map of Central Europe, 1910: The chapel is shown.
  • Guest book, started in 1912, on the occasion of a ceremony on September 29, 1912: First entry by the then owner Bardeau. kept in the Catholic rectory in Öblarn.
  • Austrian map, sheet 128, Gröbming: Listed as a mountain cross chapel in the map series.
  • Age determination of the timber used for the roof structure: Institute for Wood Research, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna : Roof structure of the stone structure dated to 1716. Timber used in the wooden component until 1890, which speaks for a construction period around 1912.
  • Entry of the carpenter in the roof structure: July 27, 1912; Structural changes were made on this day.
  • Records of the Protestant parish
  • Georgius Agricola : From the mountain and metallurgy. With 273 woodcuts, dtv 1977
  • Land register extract EZ 275, GstNr 1155, KG 67212 Sonnberg

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bundesdenkmalamt (Ed.): Dehio-Handbuch. The art monuments of Austria: Styria (excluding Graz). Öblarn. Wooden chapel in the Walchen. Berger Verlag, Horn / Vienna 1982/2006, 2nd unchanged edition, p. 346, ISBN 3-85028-422-0 .
  2. ^ The house book of the Stampferin (1679–1699) . Carinthia, Klagenfurt 1982, p. 65 .

Coordinates: 47 ° 25 ′ 39 ″  N , 14 ° 3 ′ 46 ″  E