Hülfensberg

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Hülfensberg
The Hülfensberg from the west

The Hülfensberg from the west

height 448  m above sea level NHN
location Geismar , Eichsfeld , Thuringia
Mountains Lower Werrabergland
Coordinates 51 ° 13 '8 "  N , 10 ° 9' 29"  E Coordinates: 51 ° 13 '8 "  N , 10 ° 9' 29"  E
Hülfensberg (Thuringia)
Hülfensberg
Type Zeugenberg
Age of the rock Triad
particularities Pilgrimage destination
The Hülfensberg from the south (Heldrastein)

The Hülfensberg from the south (Heldrastein)

Template: Infobox Berg / Maintenance / BILD1

The Hülfensberg is a 448 m high mountain in the municipality of Geismar in the district of Eichsfeld in Thuringia , Germany. It is located southwest of Geismar near the former inner-German border and was part of the exclusion zone during the GDR era .

The mountain, also known as the “Holy Mountain of the Eichsfeld”, has served as a place of pilgrimage since the late Middle Ages . On its summit plateau there is a church, a Franciscan monastery and a cross that can be seen from afar. The current name of the elevation, originally called Stuffenberg , is derived from the Helfenskreuz (Sankt Gehilfe, Sante Hulpe ), a crucifix that serves as the central pilgrimage figure in the church.

Franciscan monastery, Bonifatius chapel and Church of the Redeemer St. Salvator on the Hülfensberg

geography

The mountain, which consists of Triassic rocks, is located in the southern Eichsfeld and is almost entirely forested. The areas at the foot of the mountain adjoining the forest are used for agriculture. There are other wooded hills and ridges in the area, but the Hülfensberg clearly stands out from them as a flat, conical witness mountain .

In terms of its natural surroundings, the Hülfensberg area is part of the East Hessian Uplands and, within it, the Lower Werrabergland . It lies in the large nature park Eichsfeld-Hainich-Werratal and is available as a 23-hectare conservation area Hülfensberg protected.

The closest localities are the villages of Bebendorf and Döringsdorf , which belong to Geismar, south of the mountain. The only access road to the summit and to a forest parking lot for cars and buses begins between the two places, from which the summit area can be reached after about half an hour's walk. On the north side of the mountain, the traditional Way of the Cross leads from Geismar up to the mountain, which is laid out in the fields on the lower slope as an approximately 700 m long and dead straight avenue . Other pilgrimage routes are the “processional path ” that begins in Großtöpfer west of the mountain, which was interrupted during the GDR era by the inner-German border, and the southern “ death path ” from Bebendorf.

history

Presumably there was a pre-Christian Germanic cult site on the mountain . Whether Bonifatius felled the Donareiche near Geismar on the Hülfensberg is not documented, what is probably meant is Geismar near Fritzlar . In 1867 prehistoric burial sites and urns with ashes were found during earthworks on the mountain. Unfortunately, these finds have not been archaeologically secured. In connection with these grave finds, a rampart or hill fort is believed to have existed on the mountain . Remnants of a moat are said to still be on the north side. A castle on the mountain plateau with its slopes falling steeply on all sides would offer good strategic advantages.

While the mountain was still called Stuffenberg in the Middle Ages, in 1352 as Stoffenberg , the pagan name gradually disappeared with the acquisition of the Hülfensberg by the Anrode monastery and then became Mons Sancti Salvatoris (1362) or Sente Gehulffin Berge (1381) in Called certificates. This eventually became the Gehülfensberg and, from the 19th century, the Hülfensberg.

Church "Christ the Redeemer"

Pilgrimage Church "Christ the Redeemer"
Church of the Redeemer St. Salvator (view from south-west)

The oldest document with news about the Hülfensberg is a papal document from 1351, in which the parish of St. Salvator on the Stuffenberg is mentioned. Another document is dated May 30, 1352. At that time the Hülfensberg belonged to the Martinsstift in Heiligenstadt , which in 1357 left the patronage of the pilgrimage church to the Cistercian convent of Anrode . The pilgrimage to the Helfenskreuz was organized from Anrode . The creation of the crucifix is ​​usually dated to the 11th or 12th century. It is located on the "Gnadenaltar" in the Church of the Redeemer, built between 1360 and 1367, "St. Salvator ". This new church was added to an older part on the south side, next to the sacristy. That part, a prayer house , dates back to before the year 1000.

In 1583 the Hülfensberg became Electoral Mainz and remained - like the entire Eichsfeld - Roman Catholic even during the Reformation .

The Church of the Redeemer has been expanded and changed several times over the centuries, and in particular it was carefully baroque in the 17th century .

In 1810, in the course of secularization, the Anrode monastery was abolished by King Jérôme Bonaparte and all its possessions were sold to Franz Just von Wedemeyer . This made the Hülfensberg private property. Eleven years later Wedemeyer donated the Hülfenberg plateau with its grace church to the episcopal authority.

In 1890 the church was extended in a neo-Gothic style due to dangerous cracks in the choir wall according to plans by the Franciscan Paschalis Gratze . The first attached Boniface Chapel was demolished and rebuilt elsewhere. The apse with the altar and choir was built on the foundations of the old chapel . In 1923 the painting of the church was revised and supplemented by the Würzburg painter W. Jakob.

On April 5, 1945, the Hülfensberg was the target of a US artillery attack. The church roof and the tower were damaged.

  • Interior panorama

  • Left side altar

  • Main altar

  • Altar of grace with auxiliary cross - 11th or 12th century

  • West portal and organ

Boniface Chapel

Boniface Chapel
inside view

The Boniface Chapel, consecrated in 1903, is right next to the church. It was built on the foundations of a former princely chapel.

According to old tradition of the Eichsfeld there was a Donar oak on the mountain as a Germanic natural sanctuary , which the missionary Bonifatius is said to have felled as part of the Christianization in the 8th century. The reason for this assumption is above all the name of the place Geismar directly north of the Hülfensberg. In the Bonifatius stories it is reported that the Donar oak , which was subsequently used to build a chapel in Fritzlar , stood near Geismar. Today, however, it is more likely that the oak felled by Bonifatius stood in the village of Geismar in northern Hesse, which belongs to Fritzlar , which also fits in with the proximity of the Bonifatius base in Büraburg . Apart from that, it can be assumed that during Christianization not just one tree, but several “sacred trees” were felled in different places. A corresponding oak can therefore also have stood on the striking elevation of the Hülfensberg.

According to another legend, Bonifatius vom Hülfensberg is said to have said with a glance: “When will peace finally float over this beautiful floodplain” . In terms of folk etymology , the names of the neighboring places Wanfried , Frieda , Schwebda and Aue can be derived from this. A mural on a house in the through-town of Wanfried-Aue illustrates this story.

Franciscan monastery

The Franciscan branch on the mountain was founded in 1860 by the Saxon Franciscan Province ( "Saxonia" ). The four Franciscans living on the Hülfensberg now belong to the German Franciscan Province of St. Elisabeth , based in Munich .

Landgrave Christian von Hessen-Rotenburg tried to settle Franciscans on the Hülfensberg as early as the 1740s . This failed because of the refusal of the Cistercian women from Anrode , under whose church patronage the Hülfensberg was at that time. The monastery was secularized in 1810 , and the church and monastery came into the possession of the Paderborn diocese in 1821 . The Geismar pastor Michael König and Commissioner Konrad Zehrt endeavored to persuade the Franciscans to settle on the Hülfensberg and repaired the church and monastery building between 1838 and 1848. The Saxonia was because of lack of staff initially unwilling to monastic foundation, but at the instigation of Paderborn Bishop Konrad Martin , the province sent in 1860, two priests and two lay brothers there. They took over the remains of the former settlement of the Cistercian women; In 1868 the rebuilt church was consecrated again, and at the end of the 1860s the Franciscans laid out a vegetable garden behind the monastery. The pilgrimage experienced an upswing. Because of the Prussian Kulturkampf , the Franciscans had to leave Hülfensberg in 1875 and did not return until 1887. In addition to taking care of the pilgrimage, they also provided pastoral care in the neighboring parishes; from 1941 the parish vicaries of Bebendorf and Döringsdorf were also assigned to the monastery, whose parish church became the monastery church.

The monastery was enlarged at the same time as the church was rebuilt in 1890/1891 according to plans by Brother Paschalis Gratze and the church was given to the bishopric in Paderborn. The old "nuns house" received a covered corridor to the monastery, which now consists of the convent building, a pilgrim hall, its own confessional hall, a former priest's house and the adjoining monastery garden. In 1941 the Gestapo issued a warning to Father Capistran Bavendiek for giving religious instruction in school rooms and for some sermons that were understood as "incitement to the party". In 1944 the Franciscans were supposed to remove the hammer from a ceiling painting in the pilgrimage church, where St. Wendelin was depicted as a craftsman with a hammer and sickle, because of "suspicion of Bolshevism". Towards the end of the Second World War , parts of the Mühlhausen city ​​archive were housed in a cell in the monastery.

In 1950 the monastery was partially rebuilt so that retreats and retreats could be offered, in 1990 the monastery and guest house were renovated. Today it offers visitors the opportunity to gain distance and peace in the “monastery to live with”.

In 2001 the church received a new organ from the workshop of Orgelbau Waltershausen GmbH with three manuals, pedal, 36 stops and electric action.

Dr. Konrad Martin Cross

Dr.-Konrad-Martin-Kreuz with a lookout point

Konrad Martin was bishop of Paderborn from 1856 to 1875 ; he was born in nearby Geismar. In his honor, on August 7, 1933, the " Cross of Confessors " was inaugurated on the north side of the Hülfensberg. In 1990 the 18.60 meter high steel cross was dismantled for restoration and put back up in May 1991. It is illuminated at times and then visible from a distance of several kilometers.

The square on the cross is designed as a vantage point with a wide view of the Eichsfeld. As part of the German reunification , a memorial plaque was inaugurated on the cross in March 1990, commemorating the “victims of the fascist and Stalinist dictatorship”.

Pilgrimages

Pilgrimages to the Hülfensberg have been known since the late Middle Ages and experienced an upswing with the arrival of the Franciscans on the Hülfensberg in 1860. They take place several times a year for church festivals.

Due to its location near the German-German border - the distance between the summit and the border in the west was less than a kilometer - the Hülfensberg was in the GDR restricted area until 1989 . The Christian pilgrimages, which the GDR regime only tolerated, could only take place to a limited extent during this time. They were only possible for holders of a pass and for residents of the surrounding towns.

The most important traditional pilgrimage dates are:

  • Pilgrimage on the Sunday before Ascension Day
  • Main pilgrimage on the Sunday after Pentecost, earlier "Aid days" from Thursday after Pentecost to the Monday after Trinity Sunday
  • St. John pilgrimage on Sunday around the feast of St. John the Baptist (June 24th)
  • Michael's pilgrimage on the last Sunday of September to celebrate the feast of the Archangel Michael (September 29th)

In 1874, on the eve of the Kulturkampf in Prussia, 30,000 people came together on the Hülfensberg to celebrate church service with Bishop Konrad Martin before he was arrested for violating the May Law . In 1915, 20,000 pilgrims were counted at the "Aid Days". The pilgrimages were interrupted by the Second World War, but began again in 1945. In 1949, 40,000 pilgrims came, including 10,000 on a youth pilgrimage on June 29, 1949 with Auxiliary Bishop Adolf Bolte from Fulda. The numbers continued to increase due to the participation of expellees from Silesia, the Sudetenland and Warmia, until the GDR set up a five-kilometer exclusion zone in 1952, in which the Hülfensberg was located. In 1955 around 15,000 people came, including those who were interested in tourism. In talks with the Erfurt district, the Franciscans succeeded in ensuring that closed groups of pilgrims could receive passes, so that the number of visitors rose to 20,000 to 25,000 in 1958. When the Hülfensberg was included in a 500-meter protective strip in 1962, the access regulations were again handled very restrictively. Since the fall of the Wall , the Hülfensberg has been freely accessible. In 1995 there were 60,000 visitors as pilgrims, hikers and worshipers.

  • Central pilgrimage figure : the aid cross from the 12th century on the altar of grace in the church

  • Replicated "Francis grotto", tent roof for outdoor worship

  • Mary statue on the Hülfensberg

Way of the Cross

Station of the Cross to the Church of the Redeemer St. Salvator on the Hülfensberg

From Geismar a way of the cross leads over 200 meters up to the Hülfensberg, which the Franciscans built in 1895. The stations are made of sandstone with relief representations. Since Eichsfelder emigrated due to the inner-German border could no longer take the old way of the cross up the mountain, they built a way of the cross with simple wooden crosses on the Hessian side on the road from Wanfried up to the Eichsfeld cross on the border near Döringsdorf.

literature

  • Albert Kohl: The Hülfensberg and its immediate area before, during and after the fall of the inner-German border in 1989 - an image documentation . Ed .: Support group Hülfensberg. DVD. Mecke, Duderstadt 2009, ISBN 978-3-86944-009-5 .
  • P. Johannes Müller SJ : Mons Adjutorii seu Salvatoris Christi. That is: Kurtze Historical description of the Hülffensberg, which is well-known through pilgrimages in Eichsfeld. 1671, reprint: Verlag Mecke, Duderstadt 1996.
  • Thomas T. Müller: A symbol made of steel and light. The Konrad-Martin-Kreuz on the Hülfensberg. Support group Hülfensberg (ed.). Mecke, Duderstadt, 2003. ISBN 3-936617-12-0 .
  • Hermann Röhrig: The Hülfensberg, the site of a great historical past and scenic beauty. The Eichsfeld sanctuary. A home book for Eichsfeld and the neighboring areas, especially for catfish and day trippers as well as for school use. Mecke, Duderstadt, 1926.
  • Hermann Schüttel: The Hülfensberg in Eichsfeld. Meeting place in the center of Germany. Verlag FW Cordier, Heiligenstadt, 3rd edition, 2009. ISBN 978-3-939848-17-2 .
  • Hermann Schwethelm: The Hülfensberg near Geismar. Publisher Cordier Heiligenstadt 1928.
  • Gerhard Müller: The pilgrimage church of St. Redeemer on the Hülfensberg. For the 650th anniversary of the parish fair. In: Eichsfelder Heimatzeitschrift. Vol. 61, No. 9, pp. 249-255
  • Torsten W. Müller (Hg): 650 years of pilgrimage church on the Hülfensberg. Festschrift for the anniversary of the church fair 1367–2017. Geismar 2017

Web links

Commons : Hülfensberg  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ cf. Federal Agency for Nature Conservation: Landscape profile: 35801 Lower Werra Valley. ( Memento of the original from June 28, 2007 in the web archive archive.today ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bfn.de
  2. ^ Thuringian State Institute for Environment and Geology: Nature Conservation, Eichsfeld District.
  3. ↑ Michael Köhler: Thuringian castles and fortified prehistoric and early historical living spaces. Jenzig-Verlag Jena 2003
  4. ↑ The Hülfensberg on the Eichsfeld.archiv.de website
  5. ↑ Erhard Müller: The place names of the district of Heiligenstadt. Heilbad Heiligenstadt 1989, p. 26
  6. ↑ huelfensberg.de> Historical> Hl. Bonifatius
  7. ↑ a b c d e f g huelfensberg.de> Historisches> Geschichte
  8. ↑ Hans-Georg Aschoff: From the Kulturkampf to the First World War. In: Joachim Schmiedl (Ed.): From Kulturkampf to the beginning of the 21st century. Paderborn 2010, pp. 23–287, here p. 179.
  9. ^ Bernhard sacrifice man : The monasteries of the Eichsfeld in their history. Verlag FW Cordes, Heiligenstadt, 3rd edition 1998, ISBN 3-929413-46-9 , p. 255.
  10. ^ Hermann Schüttel: The Hülfensberg in Eichsfeld . Verlag Cordier, Heiligenstadt 2009. ISBN 978-3-939848-17-2 . P. 15
  11. ^ Franziskaner.de> Franziskanerkloster Hülfensberg
  12. ↑ huelfensberg.de> Monastery to live with
  13. ↑ Jürgen Werinhard Einhorn: Education and training, science, school and pastoral care from the Kulturkampf to the present. In: Joachim Schmiedl (Ed.): From Kulturkampf to the beginning of the 21st century. Paderborn 2010, pp. 633–786, here p. 755.
  14. ^ Bernhard sacrifice man: The monasteries of the Eichsfeld in their history. Verlag FW Cordes, Heiligenstadt, 3rd edition 1998, ISBN 3-929413-46-9 , pp. 254f.
  15. ↑ Dieter Berg (Ed.): Traces of Franciscan History. Chronological outline of the history of the Saxon Franciscan provinces from their beginnings to the present. Werl 1999, p. 493.505.
  16. ^ Gerhard Lindemann : From the November Revolution to the Second Vatican Council (1918–1962). In: Joachim Schmiedl (Ed.): From Kulturkampf to the beginning of the 21st century. Paderborn 2010, pp. 289–631, here p. 501.
  17. ^ Bernhard sacrifice man: The monasteries of the Eichsfeld in their history. Verlag FW Cordes, Heiligenstadt, 3rd edition 1998, ISBN 3-929413-46-9 , p. 255.
  18. ↑ Hans-Georg Aschoff: From the Kulturkampf to the First World War. In: Joachim Schmiedl (Ed.): From Kulturkampf to the beginning of the 21st century. Paderborn 2010, pp. 23–287, here p. 179.
  19. ^ Gerhard Lindemann: From the November Revolution to the Second Vatican Council (1918–1962). In: Joachim Schmiedl (Ed.): From Kulturkampf to the beginning of the 21st century. Paderborn 2010, pp. 289-631, here pp. 499f.462.
  20. ^ Gerhard Lindemann: From the November Revolution to the Second Vatican Council (1918–1962). In: Joachim Schmiedl (Ed.): From Kulturkampf to the beginning of the 21st century. Paderborn 2010, pp. 289–631, here p. 534.
  21. ↑ Jürgen Werinhard Einhorn: Education and training, science, school and pastoral care from the Kulturkampf to the present. In: Joachim Schmiedl (Ed.): From Kulturkampf to the beginning of the 21st century. Paderborn 2010, pp. 633–786, here p. 755.
  22. ↑ huelfensberg.de> Literature
  23. ↑ a b heiligenstadt-eic.de> The Hülfensberg
  24. ^ Bernhard sacrifice man: The monasteries of the Eichsfeld in their history. Verlag FW Cordes, Heiligenstadt, 3rd edition 1998, ISBN 3-929413-46-9 , p. 254.
  25. ↑ Hans-Georg Aschoff: From the Kulturkampf to the First World War. In: Joachim Schmiedl (Ed.): From Kulturkampf to the beginning of the 21st century. Paderborn 2010, pp. 23–287, here pp. 179f.
  26. ^ Gerhard Lindemann: From the November Revolution to the Second Vatican Council (1918–1962). In: Joachim Schmiedl (Ed.): From Kulturkampf to the beginning of the 21st century. Paderborn 2010, pp. 289-631, here pp. 531f.627
  27. ^ Joachim Schmiedl: From the Second Vatican Council to the beginning of the 21st century. In: Joachim Schmiedl (Ed.): From Kulturkampf to the beginning of the 21st century. Paderborn 2010, pp. 787-929, here p. 856.
  28. ^ Bernhard sacrifice man: The monasteries of the Eichsfeld in their history. Verlag FW Cordes, Heiligenstadt, 3rd edition 1998, ISBN 3-929413-46-9 , p. 255.