Herrgöttle von Biberbach
The Herrgöttle von Biberbach is a large wooden crucifix from the 13th century that is kept in the pilgrimage church of St. Jakobus, St. Laurentius and the Holy Cross in Biberbach , a market in the Augsburg district . Due to its considerable size (size of the crucifix: 2.12 m, arm span 2.07 m), the much-visited miraculous image was probably used as a triumphal cross in a larger church in the neighboring Württemberg area and can be assigned to the Romanesque .
History of the cross
By Anton Ginther his 1683 published book Miracle In cruce salus. Preceding credible relation from the origin of St. Creutz to Marckt Biberbach he took up again in his 1717 work Currus Israel et auriga ejus .
Then the crucifix was removed by iconoclasts from a church in the Württemberg region as part of the Reformation and left there carelessly. A Catholic wine merchant found the portrait, hid it under a tarpaulin on his wagon, and took it away. In Biberbach - according to tradition - the draft horses refused to work on the Kirchberg in 1525 and could only be persuaded to continue walking after the cross had been unloaded (the so-called “team miracle”). The crucifix was placed in the old Biberbach parish church until 1616, then it was moved to the schoolhouse barn and later to the church attic. Before 1632 it must have been put up again in the parish church, otherwise the courageous intervention and subsequent martyrdom of Ulrich Zusamschneider could not be explained.
After these events, it was again hidden in the church attic until Maximilian Fugger the Elder raised and restored the cross in 1655 by the local pastor Sebastian Widmann and his successor Anton Matthes had it attached high on the southern church wall, after August 10, 1654, the feast of one of the church's patrons (St. Lawrence ), lightning struck the tower of the previous building and fatally struck three (two according to the death records) people who had rushed there to hear the weather. These symbolic circumstances were interpreted as a "visitation" and recorded on a painting on the upper gallery ceiling of the church: A sparrow symbolizing the forgotten cross sits lonely on the roof of the old church while the tower burns (Caption: Sicut Paſser Solitarius in Tecto. Psal 101.8 ). After the completion of the new church building in 1694, the cross was "taken out of the previous chapel and placed on the upper altar of the new church under a rich canopy" (see Fig. Later status below).
description
In the commemorative publication written by an anonymous author for the 300th anniversary of the pilgrimage, it says under § 16 (appearance and shape of the holy cross):
“As for the shape and nature of this Heil. As for the cruciform image, the following serves as a detailed explanation. The same thing is very old; the master who made it is unknown. However, although sculpture may not have reached a high level in the making of this picture, it is still of good proportion, and well-placed division of the limbs. The whole image of Christ is six and a half shoes in length without the wooden cross. Both feet are attached with two nails, like the hands; Regardless of this, the whole portrait looks more like a person standing than hanging, since neither the body of both arms, which are fully stretched out, is lowered nor the knees bent, but both feet are straight and upright on a stool attached to the cross to which each foot is specially nailed to come to stand. The two arms, as I said, stretch out just below the neck from the shoulders so that they can be seen almost level with the crossbar of the cross. So the fingers on both hands are not bent, not closed, not contracted, but completely flat and completely open. The head and face of this one whole. The picture reveals something sublime with a special mixture of grace and seriousness, of which a certain very famous sculptor from Augsburg said about 70 years ago: 'Body, hands and feet together with their position could easily and without special art, only from one in the sculpture are made by the less experienced; but head and face indicate something more than human and hidden, which one cannot well imitate. ' And also in fact; for, besides the fact that the head is fairly straight up, and only seems to lean a little for itself against the side of the opened heart wound with closed eyes, like someone slumbering, still look out of the partly sad and partly touching ones lovable eyes a tremendously penetrating power, because of this we know this strange healing. Bild Express something more than purely human and common [...]. "
The art-historical appraisal of the “Herrgöttles” turns out to be difficult, so that currently no assignment to a workshop or school is possible (cf. also Pötzl, pp. 23-28). The choir where the crucifix is located has been redesigned several times since 1694. Restorations and renovations took place in the years 1853/1854, 1868/1870, 1908 (probably planned) and 1957/1958. The current design is only an attempt to reconstruct the original situation, as there are no more documents showing the primary condition and votive panels showing those were still unknown at the time of the last construction work.
effect
Many miracles are reported from the 'Herrgöttle von Biberbach', as evidenced not only by four printed miracle books , but also by a large number of votive offerings . In the Swabian dialect, the invocation of 'Herrgöttle' is a fixed expression, which, however, is often incorrectly related to the town of Biberach an der Riss . Even today, numerous pilgrims show v. a. from the Swabian region, the particular popularity of the miraculous image.
- The Herrgöttle from Biberbach
View from Anton Ginthers Currus Israel from 1717 with a picture of the harness miracle
View from the description of the 300th anniversary of the pilgrimage in 1826
View before 1902
literature
- Carl August Julius Jungcurt: Book of edification for Catholic Christians specially set up for use by pilgrims to Markt Biberbach. Printed by Johann Baptist Rösl, Augsburg 1803.
- Norbert Lieb: Biberbach . (Art Guide No. 768) Verlag Schnell & Steiner, Munich / Zurich 1962.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Walter Pötzl: Art History. In: Walter Pötzl (ed.): Der Landkreis Augsburg, Volume 6/1997, Augsburg 1997, pp. 413-415.
- ^ Anton Ginther: In cruce salus. This is healing and miraculous Creutz to Marckt Biberbach. Utzschneider, Augsburg 1683
- ↑ Anton Ginther: Currus Israel, et auriga ejus, ducens hominem Christianum per vias rectas, and in sacra scriptura fundatas in coelum. Georg Schlueter and Martin Happach, Augsburg 1717, ed. 1
- ↑ a b [anonymous]: Detailed and complete description of Biberbach, and the pilgrimage of the Heil. Cross there. Moy, Augsburg 1826
- ↑ a b c Johann Baptist Wolff: Augsburg pilgrimage book for use in the pilgrimages to Andechs and Grafrath, Kobel, Violau, Klimmach, Biberbach and Lechfeld. Self-published by the Pilgrims' Association, printed by JM Kleinle, Augsburg 1858.
- ^ A b c Stefanie Justus, Wolf-Christian von der Mülbe: Biberbach. Catholic parish and pilgrimage church of St. Jakobus, St. Laurentius and Holy Cross. Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 1997, ISBN 3-7954-1091-6 .
- ^ A b Cornelia Andrea Harrer: Galleries and double altars in South German baroque churches. Series Art History Volume 74, tuduv-Verlagsgesellschaft, Munich 1995, ISBN 978-3-8316-7533-3 .