Calvary

Calvary of the pilgrimage church Maria Lanzendorf (around 1700)

Kalvarienberg , also Stationsberg , is the name for extensive reproductions of the Passion of Christ , which are used as places of prayer and pilgrimage .

Concept history

The term Calvary is derived from the Latin translation of the Aramaic mountain name Golgota of the Vulgate , where it is rendered as Calvariae locus , Latin for "the place of the skull".

As Calvary is now known about life-size replicas of the Passion of Christ at an elevated location, often only the crucifixion scene , but also more extensive groups of sculptures of the Passion. Stations of the Cross were also often set up on the ascent to pilgrimage or house mountains and more remote mountain churches, a few dozen or many hundreds of meters in extent. Individual calvaries lie within a building complex built for this purpose, as in Eisenstadt . The calvaries of some Sacri Monti in northern Italy are particularly impressive .

Calvaries are also characteristic of Brittany , where they were created during the Renaissance (between 1450 and the 17th century), especially in the Finistère department, in specially created enclosed parishes . The establishment of calvaries north of the Alps in the Baroque period during the Counter-Reformation was of great importance .

Examples
Crucifixion group on the Retz Calvary
Calvary and station chapels
( St. Radegund near Graz )
Sanctuary with numerous chapels
( Graz )
Hill Chapel with Stationsweg
( Arzl near Innsbruck )
Park-like facility
( Cvikov )
Unobstructed landscape monument on a mountain peak
( Kreuzberg near Jiřetín pod Jedlovou )
XII. Calvary station of the Moresnet-Chapelle pilgrimage site
Illuminated Calvary at the Church of St. Bonaventura in Mühlen (Steinfeld)
The Kalvarienberg in Eisenstadt with the attached Haydn Church behind it.

literature

Atlas of the European Sacred Mountains, Calvaries and Places of Devotion . Directorate for Tourism, Sports and Gardens of the Piedmont Region, Turin 2003.
Walter Brunner : Styrian Calvary Mountains . Schnider, Graz et al. 1990, ISBN 3-900993-02-5 .
Elisabeth Roth : The popular Calvary in literature and visual art of the late Middle Ages . 2nd revised edition. Erich Schmidt, Berlin 1967 ( Philological Studies and Sources 2, ISSN 0554-0674 ).
Louise-Marie Tillet: Itineraries through Brittany. Calvaires and Romanesque churches . Echter Verlag , Würzburg 1989, ISBN 3-429-01186-8 .
Catholic parish, Maria Himmelfahrt, Johannes Port: The Calvary to Wettenhausen. Prayers and history of a time-honored pilgrimage site . sn, Kammeltal 1989.

French:

Yves-Pascal Castel: Croix et calvaires en Bretagne. = Kroaziou ha kalvarihou or bro . Minihi levenez, Trelevenez 1997, ISBN 2-908230-09-7 (also in Breton).
Marc Déceneux: La Bretagne des enclos et des calvaires . Ouest-France, Rennes 2001, ISBN 2-7373-2261-8 ( Mémoires de l'histoire ).
Yannick Pelletier: Les enclos Paroissiaux de Bretagne . Gisserot, Paris 1996 ( Les universels Gisserot 13, ZDB -ID 2216999-4 ).