Hocheppan Castle Chapel
The chapel of St. Catherine is on Hocheppan Castle in the municipality of Appiano belonging fraction Missian in South Tyrol , southwest of Bolzano . It has one of the most valuable Romanesque fresco cycles in the country.
history
Ulrich II. Von Eppan, a scion of the Eppan family , moved his headquarters to the Steinberg under the Gantkofel and had the Hocheppan Castle built. According to the Bolzano Chronicle , the castle chapel was consecrated on June 29, 1131 by Bishop Altmann of Trento. After Henry the Lion destroyed the castle in 1158, it was rebuilt and re-fortified. After this second construction period, the chapel was painted with a cycle of Romanesque frescoes, probably during the peacetime under Bishop Friedrich von Wangen (1207–1218). The chapel was originally connected to the palas of the castle so that the count could enter the gallery of the church from there. After the Counts of Eppan and Count Gottschalk died out in 1300, the castle was no longer an ancestral seat and fell into disrepair under changing owners and administrators. Only the chapel was maintained for a long time by churchgoers and neighbors in the middle of the crumbling walls. But in 1738 there was only once a year, on the day of the church patroness Katharina, a mass with a sermon. In the 19th century the building even served as a barn for the tenant family. In 1912, Count Sighart Enzenberg bought the ruins. Giuseppe Gerola exposed the church's frescoes in full for the first time and cleaned them in collaboration with the monument office. The renovation from 1965–1968, during which extensive security measures and uncovering work were carried out by the Sopraintendenza ai monumenti under Nicolò Rasmo , created the current state. Like the entire castle, the castle chapel is a listed building .
Building description
The castle chapel is located at the southern end of the oldest castle courtyard and was originally connected to the palas. Today it stands free and measures 7.70 m in length, 4.40 m in width and is 4.30 m high. The simple rectangular room has three apses in the east , of which the middle one protrudes somewhat. On the south wall there are two narrow Romanesque arched windows; also a window is broken in each apse. The earlier access to the gallery on the west side was also converted into a window. Today's access is via a simple rectangular portal on the north side. In the 16th century, a small roof turret was placed in the west . There is a vaulted room under the church, the purpose of which is unknown. The original flat ceiling, the gallery, the stalls and the altar cabinets have not been preserved.
Frescoes
The valuable frescoes date from the second construction period at the beginning of the 13th century and were created uniformly by a collaborating workshop. Only the remains of a Christophorus fresco to the right of the door on the outer wall are older and were probably made at the time of the chapel consecration in 1131, as a comparison of styles with frescoes in Friesach and Pürgg probably suggests.
On the outer wall in the north, the older Christophorus fresco is partially covered by a depiction of the crucifixion of Christ. The scene above the door is square and shows next to Christ on the cross Mary and John as well as two Roman soldiers with lance and sponge vinegar. The left wall is occupied by a riding hunter and a jumping deer, the only secular wall painting in Tyrol from this time. In the 16th century the scene was painted over and the depiction of a St. Georg made it; A kite was painted over the hunting dogs. When the overpainting crumbled off and the dogs reappeared in later centuries, popular interpretations of the picture emerged, which Dietrich von Bern wanted to see in it, the leader of the wild hunt who went to hell. The extraordinary representation has great artistic quality and significance.
The interior of the church is painted in three superimposed zones. The lowest zone, around 1 meter high, consists of decorative painting in which marble incrustations, rosettes and cloths on the altar wall are imitated. Furthermore, below the central apse, the figures of a centaur armed with a sword and shield and a knight with a sword and lance riding on a griffin are depicted. Fighting knights and lions can be seen on the north wall.
The recesses of the apses fall into the middle zone. There, in the dome of the central apse, a throne Mary with a child and two adoring angels can be seen. The scene of the clever and the foolish virgins is demarcated by a leaf frieze . In the middle was the figure of Christ, which is largely destroyed by a broken window. The wise virgins on the left wear full vessels of oil and simple, almost monastic costumes. The foolish virgins on the right, on the other hand, are splendidly wrapped in fashionable, patterned robes trimmed with fur , wear long braids and their vessels are empty. While they are standing in front of a closed door, the wise virgins can still see the head and blessing hand of Christ. The paintings in the central apse, together with the hunter on the outer wall, form the artistic highlight of the church. In the right apse, above the window, you can see Christ handing the apostles Peter and Paul on the sides a key and a scroll. In the left apse the Lamb of God is depicted above the window , on the right John the Seer , who looks at it in a visionary way, and on the left John the Baptist , who points to the Lamb. The Baptist wears a striking fur coat in bright colors.
In the upper zone above the apses, Christ sits enthroned in half-length; unfortunately his head is no longer preserved. To the right and left of him sit the twelve apostles , three each on the east wall and another three on the north and south wall. The thrones of the apostles are elaborately designed; their curved armrests end in animal heads, the thrones are covered with patterned fabrics. The individual apostles are separated from each other by narrow columns with leaf capitals, which carry a meander frieze over the sitter.
In the upper zone on the south wall next to the apostles, a cycle of frescoes with the life of Christ begins. It begins with the Annunciation to Mary , followed by the Visitation of the Virgin Mary . The birth of Christ takes up a broader scene. It is given in the Byzantine tradition with the reclining Mary, above the Christ child in the manger, on the left Joseph. As if in conversation, Maria turns to another figure, a woman who takes a dumpling out of a large pan over an open fire and tastes it , the so-called dumpling eater , the oldest representation of dumplings in South Tyrol. This is followed on the right by the Annunciation to the Shepherds, to whom an angel appears from the top left. Striking in the center is the depiction of an upright billy goat grazing a bush. On the west wall is the poorly preserved scene of the Adoration of the Magi . The cycle continues on the north wall with the questioning of the kings by King Herod, Dream and Flight of the Kings, and ends with the Bethlehemite child murder .
The continuation of the cycle begins again on the south wall in the middle zone. The flight into Egypt is followed by the presentation in the temple and the baptism of Christ in the Jordan . The wedding at Cana can be seen in a very broad scene , with the wedding guests shown very realistically on the table. The representation of Christ's entry into Jerusalem is damaged on the west wall. This is followed by the very damaged capture of Christ on the north wall, then the crowning of thorns, flagellation, crucifixion, descent from the cross and the women at the grave. The picture strips are separated from each other by simple meanders at the top and bottom.
The frescoes combine courtly refinement, as in the foolish virgins, in the annunciation scene or numerous details, with folk realism, for example in the dumpling eater or the wedding guests. Stylistically, the Austrian Romanesque art meets that of Northern Italy in them, whereby a Byzantine influence can be clearly seen, which was probably conveyed via Salzburg or Venice . There are related cycles in St. Zeno in Sommacampagna and in the crypt of Aquileia , in the country itself the frescoes in Taufers in Münstertal or Marienberg can be compared.
- Frescoes inside
The three apses on the east wall
The foolish virgins from the central apse
Annunciation and the Visitation on the south wall
The dumpling eater
Virgin Mary with baby Jesus
literature
- Nicolò Rasmo : Hocheppan . Bolzano 1967
- Peter Steiner / Elisabeth Enzenberg: Hocheppan. Castle ruins and chapel . Art Guide No. 979. Schnell & Steiner, Munich 1987, 3rd edition
- Helmut Stampfer / Thomas Steppan: The castle chapel of Hocheppan . Athesia, Bozen 1998, ISBN 88-7014-957-9
Web links
- Entry in the monument browser on the website of the South Tyrolean Monuments Office
Coordinates: 46 ° 29 '32.22 " N , 11 ° 14' 33.01" O